{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series One-Hundred and thirty six}

Friends

 

As I promised at the end of series one hundred and thirty five, the next series is going to be a continuation of the writing of Kristen E Cheney. This series reflects on the life of an Acholi child who was kidnaped at age 13. Let me as well note that because we have a whole whack of information on Acholi violence to post, the next series is going to be our last posting on the writing of Kristen, so that we can move forward, and it is a very important writing for she goes after why she thinks Acholi decided to kidnap their own Acholi children and fight with them than adults. You need to read series one hundred and thirty seven for it goes deep in understanding the situation we have in Northern Uganda, Acholi have a reason behind terrorizing their own children that will fascinate you, make sure you read the next series that I will be posting in about 15 minutes. Let us pick up on the reading speed, and very  kindly !!!!!

 

Ugandans we need to discuss Acholi violence candidly.

 

Richard 

 

The signing of the Nairobi Peace Accords in 2001 strengthened Uganda–Sudan relations and fortified the border. Many detachments in Uganda were cut off from Kony's command, changing the nature of LRA abductions. Abductions became shorter and escape easier. Children were abducted mainly to carry looted goods in the Ugandan bush, and few were taken to Sudan to be trained as fighters. Richard was one such child abducted for a short period in 2001. Richard was 13 years old when I met him at the World Vision center, though he looked and acted more like he was 10 or 11 years old: skinny and slight for his age, and painfully shy and nervous. With dirty bare feet and skinny, scarred legs, worn and faded shorts, and a second-hand black nylon jumper with a red Nike stripe that traversed his distended belly, Richard fidgeted nervously. He didn't speak of his emotions as he went through his ordeal, but he spoke rapidly of the experience as he continued to look down at his hands and pick at dry skin. His eyes glazed over with tears as he told his abduction story about being in the village on holiday from school and having soldiers come and loot the compound. They were in groups; they were many. When they came there was a troop which passed by our home, and seven of them branched to our place. So two entered the house and told my brother who was listening to the radio to hand over the radio to them. One of the rebels looked at me and said, 'This boy, should we take him or we leave him?' They said, 'Let's go with him', and they took me.

 

My brothers were not taken; they are older than me so the rebels, they claim if they take someone who is mature—who has got all the tactics of knowing their movements—he can plan and easily escape. So with a child like me, they move with him in the bush and he gets confused and lost, so it is better to take children. Before I was abducted, I knew the details about the rebels. The way they behave; the way they mistreat people when they get you; they can kill you, they can beat you, they can do any sort of thing to you. So I at least had that sort of idea. Once abducted, I was sure of such things to happen to me. I heard it from my friend when we went to school. He was abducted before so he was telling me at school when we were playing, so that's how I came to know the bush experiences. Our parents told us that we should not be common at home, because rebels usually storm villages. We were told to keep hiding, to be in the bush. At first I was beaten because I was walking slowly. They wanted me to direct them where there are more children so they were moving with me so they get more children. But wherever we would move, those children were all in hiding, so they didn't get those children. I was the only child in the group who was taken. The first day they abducted me, they started walking at eight or nine at night, then we stopped somewhere and slept there. The next day we started walking at seven up to one, daytime.

 

Then we stayed there again. We moved from there and slept and went to some village on the eastern side of Gulu District. It is something like 30 kilometers, may be more than that, from the village where I was taken. That is where the rebels staged their camp there, but there are other camps in Gulu District. I carried some beans and some posho [cornmeal] which was looted, and I also carried a bag on my back. The bag contained clothes which were robbed from other people. The rebels were telling me the reasons why they abducted me. They wanted me to go to the bush to have a hard life so they could train me to become a soldier like them, doing what they are doing. When we moved, the government troops stormed us four times. So I had some experience of gunfire between the rebels and the government troops. When they were fighting, they put me up in a tree to monitor what was going to happen. So my work was just like an informer. Richard was never trained as a soldier, though, probably because they were constantly moving through the bush to avoid capture by the army. He knew some of the areas they passed through, but he never had the opportunity to get away. At one point, they reached a place that was familiar to him because his uncle stayed nearby. Richard was made to fetch water and make cooking fires, though he usually was rarely given enough to eat.

 

As prisoners and abductees would talk amongst ourselves, but we were not supposed to whisper. When we were discussing amongst ourselves, we were supposed to shout so everyone could hear us because the rebels fear that we might plan to escape or do something destructive. The children they had abducted before trained me on how to stay with those rebels. I was with my friend and we started planning to escape. When we were moving in the bush we reached an area which was not so safe. The rebels were fearing the government troops, so they told us not to move in lines but to disperse and each one should move in the same direction but not following each other so that our routes cannot be traced. While we were moving, the soldiers were ahead of us maybe 25 meters. We had heavy luggage, it was bushy, and we are very short, so we could not easily be seen. We remained behind. We pretended as if we were stopping for a short call [to urinate]. So the rebels moved a bit as they were not seeing properly. We dropped our luggage and started running away, but following where we came from because we were very sure it was safe behind us. We escaped at night, around nine o'clock. We moved like that until it was too dark. Then we slept and waited for morning hours to start moving.

 

As we slept in that place, the next day we were planning to move to another place. We were very tired and we went under a certain tree to rest. By surprise we heard the rebels passing by. It seems they slept in the same area. So we had to take cover within that place so we could be safe. We hid there until they passed the road, then we had to cross the road where they had passed. We survived, and they didn't get us again! We moved a very long distance until we came across some man who was burning charcoal. We asked him the name of the area, so he told us and then the man took us to the local authority. It took us two weeks because we used to move short distances, then sleep because our legs were swollen. For my friend it was more serious, but I could not leave my friend because we escaped together and neither of us knew the area. So we had to assist each other. We used to get some wild fruits for food. The day we escaped, we escaped with a five-liter jerry can of water. So that is what we used to get water. After we reached the local councilman, he took us to the barracks. The day we were taken to the barracks, I was escorted by my grandfather. I was very happy to see him. He said he was very happy to see me, too. He told me that everybody thought that I was killed.

 

They were worried but they had forgotten because they thought I was dead.

 

 

Series one hundred and thirty seven is going to be the last in this study.

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"