{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series eighty (D) }

Silvia was interviewed by Médecins Sans Frontières from Lira, just a warning before you read her story, many of the details Acholi forced this poor woman to go through are very graffic.

Silvia's story

Since 1984, Silvia, a short and stocky lady of 35, lived with her husband and her two

children in a small village 6 km away from Aloi. She had a vegetable garden and some

livestock. She produced enough to live on and sell. Besides occasional disturbances

from cattle rustlers from the neighbouring Karamoja district in the late 80s, her life had

been quite peaceful. However, trouble started in 2002.

Rumours went that the LRA rebels were in the area, and as time went by they became

more frequent and detailed. Not willing to take any chances with her children's lives and

given the LRA's well-known recruitment strategy, each night she slept with her children

in the bush. In March 2003, as the situation worsened, she sent her children to her

mother who was living in Lira town. People in her village began to flee. Silvia watched as the situation deteriorated. At first

there were occasional attacks and raids by the LRA but as the year went on, they

became more frequent. There was no one left in her village by November, when she and

her husband reluctantly decided to leave their home. The LRA were burning villages,

schools and health centres; the killing spree had begun. Scores of children were

abducted. Silvia and her husband packed what they could, their six goats and a few

other belongings, and fled to Aloi.

Aloi camp, once little more than a crossroads town where a few lived, today hosts

approximately 31,000 people. When MSF first arrived in Aloi in December 2003 the

camp was in a terrible state. "It was so much worse than I had imagined. People were

living on top of each other in miniscule and flimsy straw huts, it was chaotic and filthy

and people were visibly terrified"11. Security incidents and killings continued on a daily

basis as people ventured outside the camp boundaries in search of a few precious litres

of water. In the camp, there was only one functioning water source and there were more

than 1,000 people to one latrine.12 There were no health services, nor food.

Since then there has been a meagre improvement: insecurity has receded, malnutrition

has slightly decreased, there is a little more water and a few more latrines, but the

overall indicators remain worrying for a camp that has existed for over a year. According

to the MSF survey carried out in October 2004, the crude mortality rate is of 3.61 per

10,000/day, 91% of the people living in Aloi do not have access to land to cultivate, 9%

of the respondents had no food at all at the moment of the interview and 58% had only

enough to last them one day. On average people survive on 8 litres of water per person

per day, but much of that is not safe drinking water for 56% of the households fetch

water in unprotected sources. Under these conditions, a single case of cholera or

measles could lead to a deadly outbreak.

Life in the camp was hard and by March 2004 Silvia was desperate. Her goats had

been stolen and overall reserves were running low. Finding food, water, and firewood

was a struggle. On 1 April 2004, hunger drove Silvia and her husband to take a risk that

would change her life forever. Although fearful of the LRA, Silvia decided to venture out

of the camp to collect the cassava that she knew was growing at home. "I knew I was

taking a risk. I had heard that earlier that week four people had disappeared while

looking for food but I was hungry." At 8:00 am, Silvia along with five relatives, her

husband and a one-year-old child, left for her village. After gathering food for several

hours, they prepared to return to the camp. Just as they set off a group of LRA

appeared. The next few hours were excruciating.

 

"All of a sudden, many young boys surrounded us. They all had machetes, guns and

clubs. We tried to run, but the boys stopped us and took us to their commander. We

were ordered to sit in front of him while the others lay down a set of tools-razor blades,

clubs, axes, knives, and guns—tools they would eventually use to hurt and kill us. The

entire group except me was ordered to lie down on the ground face down. Immediately,

upon the wave of the commander's hand, one boy picked up a stick and proceeded to

pound each one first in the back of the neck and then on their forehead until they were

dead. Unable to watch, I stood away. When the commander noticed, he forced me

watch as the boy beat my husband to death. Once he was dead,

the Commander ordered me to lie down next to my husband's corpse and have sex with him. He was so

heavy that I could not even budge him. Right then, the commander waved his hand

again and I thought I would be the next one to die. I knelt down and begged for mercy,

reminding the Commander that the same God had created us all. Then, the boy that had

killed the others, stood in front of me. He had a razor blade in his hand and he cut my

ear off. The commander warned me that if I cried I would get the axe instead. I stayed

silent as the blood flowed from my ear. The boy that cut my ear was teased by the

others who claimed he had not done it correctly. He moved to my other ear and this

time cut it properly off. Next he cut my lips off. First he cut the lower lip and then the

upper one. I was bleeding so badly… Once my lips were gone, he started to pull out my

teeth one by one. At this point, I lost consciousness.

The next thing I knew I was being carried to a nearby hut. They ordered me to take off

all of my clothes. I did and sat there bleeding. The young boys peeped into the hut and

asked me if I wanted to die. I told them that I did not want to die. They left me alone

again for a little while.

Outside the hut, I could see them cooking and eating the cassava that I had collected.

When they were finished eating, I heard them praying and saying that they had been

cleansed and that nothing would happen to them. Once they finished their prayers, I

heard them ask the commander whether they should cut my arms and nose off. To my

surprise, he said that they should not. I was ordered to come outside. I stood in front of

the commander naked. I felt so humiliated... He asked me if I would return home again

in search for food. I replied that I would not. He then told me to go and be sure to tell

the Amuka and the local radio in Lira that the LRA were still around. With that, I left. As I

walked away I heard a whistle and the sound of many scrambling to get their guns. I was

scared. I began to run as fast as I could, praying that they would not follow me. I finally

reached a spring nearby the camp. There was a boy there that I knew. He ran ahead to

get some others from the camp. As soon as the rest of the people came for me—I lost

consciousness again".

 

Silvia considers herself one of the lucky ones. She survived an experience that many

others have not. But the memory of watching her husband die will remain with her for

the rest of her life.

 

Stay in the forum for Series eighty-two on the way   ------>

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"