{UAH} THE ACHOLI VIOLENCE INTO LUWERO AS POSTED BY MONITOR ON 10th October 1999

Uganda: Luwero woman raped 21 times

By Isabirye Musoke

Kampala — A woman in Luwero district has told researchers that she was raped 21 times by soldiers of deposed president Milton Obote. The testimony is contained in a research report,

Women's Experiences Of Armed Conflict In Uganda- Luwero District 1980 - 1986. The project was resourced by ISIS-WICCE, a locally-based international women resource centre, and funded by Heinrich Boll Foundation, a German NGO.

The report says that an analysis of all the cases of rape, indicated that in most cases women were raped by more than one man at a time or over several times. Of all cases reported, the maximum number of soldiers raping one woman was 21 on different occasions. The maximum number of soldiers reported to have raped a woman at one time was 15 soldiers.

The incidence of gang rape was high during the war and was done to all females including young children, the report noted. Some women reported rape ordeals lasting up to three hours, the study noted.

An unidentified woman said: "Six soldiers found me hiding in a bush and raped me one after another starting with the one who seemed to be the commander. This lasted for about three hours. The last one closed my legs barking at me in kiswahili 'we mushenzi lala hapo' [you fool lie here']. I could not even talk. My relatives discovered me later soaked in blood, urine, faeces and men's semen."

"I was torn everywhere and developed backache. Before I had recovered, I was again gang raped at a military checkpoint (road-block). This time I was raped by 15 soldiers. This left me shattered. I was once again torn to an extent that I could not control my biological functions. The cervix was dislocated and the uterus started hanging out. Whenever I am bathing I have to push it back in," the woman from Kikamulo in Luwero said.

"I defecated from both the front and behind. I was oozing water and blood. The oozing of water and blood has continued to today, despite the medical treatment I obtained. The men say I do not fit them [and] although I can still conceive I cannot deliver without professional assistance," she said.

The report notes that women who had been traumatised by the war had been afraid to talk about their experiences even to close relatives, for fear of scaring away their spouses, as well as being despised and rejected.

"By not speaking out about their war ordeals they had developed mental and psychiatric disorders," the report notes.

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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