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

Friends

 

Jolly Okot spent two years with LRA. She was repeatedly raped and forced to fight and steal from her own people at gun point. She testified to the United States Senate Commission on Foreign Relations

 

We need to discuss Acholi violence candidly.

 

 

My name is Jolly Okot and I'm an Acholi from Uganda who has seen the effects

of war firsthand. I grew up with Joseph Kony as children in the same village, not

knowing what he would one day turn into.

In 1986, as a teenager, I was walking the 10 miles home from my boarding

school in northern Uganda, and came across a roadblock set up by a group of

rebels. They detained me, and I began to hear gunshots. I turned to see a

commander draw a pistol and shoot two people in their feet. This was my

introduction to what was then called the Holy Spirit movement, and what soon

after took shape as the Lord's Resistance Army. That day, I myself was

abducted.

I spent the next two years with the rebels, forced to fight, forced to steal from my

own people at gunpoint, and repeatedly raped by commanders.

When I finally managed to escape, the LRA retaliated by going to my village and

killing my uncle. A year later, they returned to my village and killed 21 of my

cousins in a single night.

What was done to my family is still happening today in central Africa. The LRA

started out as a popular rebellion in northern Uganda to overthrow the

government, but they quickly lost support as Kony attacked our own people,

abducting children as young as 5 to join his ranks. Since 2006, the LRA has been

pushed out of Uganda, which is now peaceful. Yet Kony continues to terrorize

communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African

Republic, and South Sudan.

As a Ugandan who grew up with Kony, it is especially painful to witness this

conflict now impacting Uganda's neighbors. Kony has no achievable political

agenda; he and his top commanders are fighting only for survival, and they are

doing it at the expense of the local population. Since 2008, the LRA have killed

over 2,400 people in central Africa, and abducted over 3,400 others. Nearly a

half a million people are currently displaced in the region, still living in fear. These

people are living in the remotest parts of the countries, and their own

governments have done little to stop the LRA. Late last year, I heard testimonies

from many local leaders during a civil society workshop held in Dungu. People

came from DRC, CAR, and South Sudan, and nearly all of those in the workshop

are part of one ethnic group, the Azande. Because of the inaction of regional

government on the issue, delegates expressed the feeling that the LRA war is an

attempt by their governments to eliminate the Azande people. It is being

perceived by the local population as an attempt at genocide.

I have dedicated my life to working with communities affected by LRA violence.

After I escaped abduction, I went back to school, realizing that education is the

key to creating change. I began supporting Sudanese refugees and started

working with organizations such as Oxfam, MSF, InterAid and UNHCR before

meeting the founders of Invisible Children and taking on the role as the director

of Invisible Children's programs in Uganda. For the last two years, I have helped

to expand programs in DR Congo and CAR to work directly with the currently

affected population.

This past December, I was in the town of Dungu, DRC meeting with women's

groups from South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. In the meeting,

most of them discussed the level of atrocities committed by the LRA in their

different villages. I met with several girls who had just returned from abduction,

and when they talked to me about what they had gone through -- being given

forcefully as wives to commanders -- it broke my heart. It was a fresh reminder of

exactly what I had gone through, and what we in Uganda suffered for two

decades. I met a young Congolese girl of 14 years who had been abducted by

the LRA. Coming from Uganda, we don't share even a single word in our

languages, so normally having a translator is necessary to communicate. But

when I met this young Congolese girl, I found that she spoke my language

perfectly, as a result of her time with the LRA. It was shocking to be in a foreign

place, seeing such a high level of trauma, and realizing that the language spoken

by the LRA had been exported to innocent young people in Congo. It made me

realize that these people from South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic

are my brothers and sisters, just as much as my Ugandan brothers and sisters.

They are suffering the same terror that we suffered for so many years. Although

Kony has moved out of northern Uganda, he is still terrorizing innocent victims

and we must join together and stand up for them.

Despite recent advances by the African Union, there has been little cooperation

between the countries that have been affected by the LRA on a joint solution.

Victims and local leaders are asking for the intervention of the international

community -- and especially the US government -- to encourage better regional

coordination, and to pressure President Kabila to acknowledge the threat of the

LRA and allow regional forces the opportunity to pursue them in DR Congo.

Likewise, the LRA should not be given safe haven in Darfur, or anywhere else in

the region, and the US should help diplomatically to ensure this.

As we focus on bringing LRA atrocities to an end, we should embrace a holistic

approach to bringing to an end to this war that has been going on for the past 26

years. Since peace came to northern Uganda in 2006, we have seen a rapid

increase in development. Poverty rates dropped from 65% in 2004 to less than

45% today. I acknowledge the great support of the US government and the

American people on the ground. There is a lot that has been done to support the

victims of the LRA directly through USAID, US-based NGOs and private funding

from young people across the country who have supported Invisible Children and

our local partners to carry out life-changing work. Recently, young Invisible

Children supporters have raised funds for the expansion of 27 high frequency

radios that provide an early warning of LRA attack to communities in the

countries where the LRA now operates. Young people have funded the region's

first rehabilitation center in DR Congo, and they have helped us to fund

construction of community-led FM projects that encourage safe LRA defection.

Young people -- particularly young Americans -- are changing the landscape for

LRA affected communities, and they should be commended for their dedication

and enthusiasm.

The US has been at the forefront of international efforts, and we have welcomed

this leadership. But progress has been slow to reach the ground, and in some

areas altogether absent. More efforts are needed, especially in currently affected

areas like southeast CAR.

Defeating Kony requires more than just seeing his arrest. LRA forces survive by

exploiting the remoteness and lack of infrastructure in the areas of operation.

Addressing this requires a multifaceted approach. I speak on behalf of the victims

in central Africa to call for four things in particular. One, increased civilian

protection, including early warning systems and infrastructure projects like the

rehabilitation of key roads. Two, expanding demobilization, disarmament, and

reintegration (DDR) efforts, particularly in CAR, where FM radio broadcasts and

leaflet distribution can be effective at encouraging peaceful LRA surrender.

Three, increased support for rehabilitation and reconstruction initiatives, ensuring

that the highest levels of trauma can be addressed. And finally, strengthened

intelligence and logistical support to the regional forces pursuing top LRA

leadership. The deployment of advisors has been a positive development in this

regard, though we have received numerous reports that there should be fewer

restrictions in their mobility to provide better support to regional efforts in the

field.

Now, words have to translate into results. The solutions being discussed should

be acted upon swiftly and courageously, so that peace can be restored to the

region. The world is watching and waiting to see what will happen this year, and

we have the opportunity to join together, after 26 years, to deliver the results.

 

Stay in the forum for Series One hundred and twenty seven 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"

United States Senate Commission on Foreign Relations