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

Friends

 

{This series is going to continue to series 203 which is being posted very immediately}

 

 

"We used to fight the UPDF troops once we fell into their ambush. We had to put up a spirited resistance against them to save our lives, because if you were to retreat the LRA commander of your group could shoot you. What we feared most were the government war planes that could drop deadly bombs, killing many of our colleagues. We were however instructed upon seeing there advance towards us, to remove our shirts, smear with dust or mud, take cover in a tree of bush, hiding both our finger and toe nails, and in that way the planes could not easily spot us."

 

These are some of the atrocities that have been committed in our country, it is very troubling  that in as much as these numbers keep on being thrown out there we still find Ugandans calling this a very isolated number. You have over a million  people camped, and traumatized, many have lost relatives and many have murdered people, and you think Northern Uganda is alright for Rwandese died as well? We need to start preparing ourselves for the worst for living with them requires very good laws on Uganda books to protect the rest of society that decided not to be violent. Maxie J. Muwonge of Human Rights, Peace and Development Worker and Researcher,  wrote a study titled Community Based Reintegration Of Ex-Combatants: A Case Study Of The Lord's Resistance Army In Northern Uganda. {Paper Submitted For Presentation And Discussion During The 4th International Institute For Peace Through Tourism African Conference: Educators Forum At Serena Hotel –Kampala, Uganda 20th May 2007. We are posting from page 3

 

Ugandans we so need to discuss Acholi violence candidly.

 

 

Situational Analysis of the LRA Insurgency on Northern Uganda

 

The entire Northern Uganda testifies to the vicious suffering emanating from the LRA

twenty years conflict with the central government of Uganda, characterized by mass

willful killings, abductions, rape and internal displacement of the civilian population.

Poor living conditions are prevalent among the internally displaced persons (IDPs), who

are highly impoverished, displaced from their traditional land, suffered illness like

cholera, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. The region has witnessed interrupted education;

families have had to endure severe social breakdowns as evidenced by the big numbers

of orphans, child mothers, and child-headed families. Communities are faced by

shortages of food due to the inaccessibility of their farmlands in the areas far away from

the respective IDP camps, hence left to survive on the food rations provided monthly by

World Food Program (WFP).

 

Recent August 2006 IDP revalidation exercise established that Gulu was having 460,226

(87 percent) persons out of its projected population estimate of 528,800 living in 66

protected internal displacement camps/settlements as a result of the repeated and

protracted forced displacements triggered by the insurgency. This IDP population figure

constitutes a total of 118338 families/ households.4 If the same scenario of Gulu is

reflected in the districts of Kitgum and Pader which had the IDP population of 31011

IDPs in 22 camps and 319,506 IDPs in 30 camps respectively, then the total number of

IDPs in the Acholi Sub Region is 1089843.5 Most of these camps are highly underserved

with social services in spite of the efforts exerted by the Local Government

together with its Humanitarian and Development partners.6 The IDP situation as a result

of the LRA extended to the Lango sub region especially Lira district as well as the Teso

region in the east.

 

Amidst this war traumatized IDP communities are the hundreds of FAPs who were

affected in multiple ways by being abducted, tortured and forced to kill the same

communities that they now seek to reintegrate into. Whereas the general feeling is that

the FAPs have been forgiven by the war affected communities of northern Uganda, the

idea for them to stay with former communities that they were forced to brutalize, has at

times made some community members to palpably insult FAPs as rebels, which often

stigmatize them, causing deep psychological scars. Therefore there is need of

understanding their plight before interventions for their reintegration could be engaged.

 

The Plight of the FAPs

 

It is imperative to note that the FAPs are the worst affected category by the LRA

insurgency in northern Uganda. From1996, a year marked by intense fighting between

the LRA and the government forces- Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), the LRA

resorted to abductions and massacre of government suspected allies to terrorise the

civilian population in northern Uganda.7 The LRA abducts children and adults to serve

as soldiers, and girls to serve as sex slaves to its commanders. Those abducted are

brutalized to deter them from escaping. Those abducted persons attempting to escape

are killed or seriously wounded as an example to others abducted.8 UNICEF estimates

that over 25,000 children have been abducted in the course of the 19 years LRA

insurgency.9 The reportedly favours LRA 9 to 12 years old abductees because the age

group is the most malleable.10

 

A deeper interrogation of the process and consequences of abduction of especially the

children and youth into the ranks of the LRA informs us that;

• Most FAPs were abducted when they are children

• As an initial indoctrination of the FAPs, they were coerced to commit atrocities

against their own communities as a way of incriminating them, thereby making it

difficult for them to return home

• FAPs were isolated and turned against the members of their families and

communities

• In many instances, FAPs were inflicted of physical and psychological abuse

• Frequently, the FAPs were forced to give up their personal identity by

undertaking new names

• For the young girls, they were raped and forced into marriage with the LRA top

Commanders

 

Stay in the forum for Series two hundred and three 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"