Emmanuel Aliba Kiiza, national executive secretary for justice and peace for the Uganda Episcopal Conference, the organization for Uganda's Catholic bishops, is spending three months at Notre Dame as a Kroc Institute-Catholic Relief Services Fellow.
While at Notre Dame, Kiiza will conduct research on theories of reconciliation and healing, which he plans to use to help create the foundation for a national reconciliation and peacebuilding commission in Uganda.
"Uganda recently celebrated 50 years of independence from colonial rule, but its people still are deeply divided along tribal lines," Kiiza said. "Ugandans want to move beyond the woundedness resulting from corrupt leadership regimes and war and work together toward healing and lasting peace."
Kiiza, who participated in the Juba peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government from 2006-08, has held various positions with Catholic organizations in Uganda, advocating for children's and workers rights and leading civic education efforts to strengthen multi-party democracy. He also has served as prime minister of the Kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara in mid-western Uganda, a diplomatic post.
The Kroc Institute and Catholic Relief Services have sponsored the CRS-Kroc fellowships since 2006. Kroc-CRS fellows pursue short-term research and writing projects related to peacebuilding while engaging with Kroc Institute students and faculty. Past fellows have come from Burundi, Cameroon, the Congo, El Salvador, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal and South Sudan.
Catholic Relief Services is one of the world’s largest humanitarian relief organizations, serving more than 100 countries around the globe.
Contact: Aliba Kiiza, Aliba.E.Kiiza.1@nd.edu