Editor's Note

The last four months were pregnant with hope for an end to the Coronavirus pandemic. Several COVID-19 vaccines became available. Millions of people, mainly in the developed world, were vaccinated. Herd immunity was on the horizon, granted still far in an unpredictable future. Then, reports of adverse vaccination events began to appear. Though the numbers of blood clots and death associated with the COVI-19 vaccines are statistically low, their effect on vaccine hesitancy has been significant. Nevertheless, overall, the risk of suffering from COVID-19 symptoms outweighs that of having serious adverse reaction to the vaccines. For that reason, with abundance of caution, vaccination with the AstraZenica and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines in particular, were temporarily posed. Otherwise, generally, vaccination programs are still proceeding, giving hope that life will soon return to normal if it were not for the uneven world distribution of the vaccines.

The April 2021 issue is devoted to the state of the world. The first article by the veteran foreign affairs columnist, Johnathan Power, focuses on the efforts to end war crimes. He chronicles the history of the idea which led to the founding of the International Criminal Court (ICC) going back to the 16th century in Europe.

The second article by Okot Nyormoi, shows that while the idea of the ICC is noble, its implementation, as shown in the particular prosecution of a former abducted child turn soldier, is problematic. That makes it necessary to consider other systems such as restorative justice such as “mato oput” of the Acholi people in northern Uganda.

In the third article, Ocaya p’Ocure says that it is a relief to have a new American president, Joe Biden, because of his temperament being a major departure from that of his predecessor, ex-President Trump. However, he sees troubling signs for his administration as seen in his bombing of Syria already and the continuing racially motivated hate crimes, especially the killing of black men in the USA.

The last article by John Otim, the former editor of the Nile Journal, draws attention to the importance of language for communication. He wonders whether one of the languages in Uganda, LebLango, is in danger of dying and asks what can be done about it.