The government of Uganda has stated that the position taken by Justice Julia Sebutinde at the International Court of Justice did not reflect its position on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Judge Sebutinde was the only judge to vote against every measure that South Africa had sought in its case against Israel. She is a Ugandan national.
The only other member of the court to vote against some, but not all of South Africa’s requests was Israeli Judge Aharan Barak.
In her dissent, Sebutinde wrote that the conflict would not be resolved judicially: ‘Unfortunately, the failure, reluctance or inability of States to resolve political controversies such as this one through effective diplomacy or negotiations may sometimes lead them to resort to a pretextual invocation of treaties like the Genocide Convention, in a desperate bid to force a case into the context of such a treaty, in order to foster its judicial settlement: rather like the proverbial “Cinderella’s glass slipper.”’
Adona Ayebare, Uganda’s ambassador to the United Nations, posted on X: ‘Justice Sebutinde’s ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.’
Ayebare went on to say that she had previously voted against Uganda at the court.
Ayebare said that the country’s position had ‘been expressed through Uganda’s voting pattern at the United Nations’.
In October, for example, Uganda had voted in favour of a truce to move humanitarian aid into Gaza. President Yoweri Museveni had called the war ‘regrettable’ and said that he supported a two-state solution.
Judge Sebutinde is the first African woman to have been given a seat on the court, of which she became a member in 2012. She had also worked on war crimes and corruption matters in relation to Sierra Leone.
[Image: ICJ]