Children in Uganda - The Flotsam of War

Aid orientated towards the future | Children in Uganda - The Flotsam of War | Dutch journalist visits the SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu | Home Sweet Home - until darkness falls | Taking the initiative in Uganda | Increased rebel activity in northern Uganda puts children at risk

The history of North Uganda over the past 15 years has been characterised by a dark conflict between the governments of the Sudan and Uganda and various rebel groups. One of these is the infamous Lord Resistance Army, one of whose war practices is the mass abduction of children to be used in the fighting. The children serve as soldiers, as shields, as load-bearers and as sex objects. Children, the loot of war The Lord Resistance Army (LRA), under the leadership of the self-proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony, is one of the main kingpins in the battle against Museweni's government. The area they are active in stretches through the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader as far as the Sudanese territory south and east of Juba. This is where they have set up their retreat. In actual fact the LRA is carrying out a war against the civilian population. It has been estimated that over the past decade and a half 10 000 children have been stolen, thousands of inhabitants either killed or driven out and property has been stolen or destroyed. Sudan and Uganda have now signed a government agreement which allows Ugandan government troops (UPDF) to enter into South Sudan in order to fight the LRA. The "Iron Fist" offensive started back in March. Many NGOs have voiced their fears that this military offensive will cause many casualties amongst the children who have been abducted by the LRA in recent years. It is unclear what the present situation of these children is. It remains uncertain how many of them have either been set free or left behind during the fighting, where they have fled to or how long their Odyssey from the military hinterland to safe country is taking them. It is being estimated that approximately 3,000 abducted women and children will trickle back over the border into Uganda. Many of them have spent years in captivity and many where born there. At present the number of people returning is relatively small. The children are coming over the borders or from remote districts into Uganda in groups or they are just being found by the side of the roads. An incomplete register suggests that there are 5,555 children who were abducted between 1990 and 2001 who are still missing. Many of them were forced to take active parts in acts of violence and atrocity or were made to face immense violence and arbitrary acts themselves. Most of them have been listed as child soldiers. Child mothers, former "wives", in Gulu - Photo: SOS Archives Control over body, mind and thoughts The children who belong to the mobile LRA groups in Uganda have to cover long distances at great speed whilst carry heavy loads. Those who fall by the wayside and are no longer able to continue are often mutilated or killed. On the other hand, in the Sudan the LRA has set up "Family Units" in the bush camps. Here the abducted girls are traded as the property of the commanders. They are given to the "boy soldiers" as a reward for showing particular fighting spirit. Under the brutal conditions in these bush camps the men and boys are kept in line by having girls and women available for sex and to do their housework. The girls are given a "protector" who has absolute control over her but at the same time protects her from attacks from others. Many of these sexually exploited girls have had babies during their incarceration. At the same time they have had to take part in the fighting. Girls who are not yet even sixteen years old have already had two or three children. Time and again living babies are being found next to the bodies of their mothers. Attempts at escape are heavily punished by the LRA, at best with a beating and at worst with death. Despite this many children still try to flee. It takes a lot of courage or extreme frustration to make the attempt. The children are told that Joseph Kony who has been "touched by the spirit" is able to read their thoughts and therefore knows in advance if somebody is thinking of escaping. Children have reported how others were killed because Kony maintained that he could read their thoughts of escape. So far not one single child has been officially set free by the LRA. An orphan being welcomed by traditional cleansing ceremony - Photo: SOS Archives Difficult return Even with their eventual return from the Sudan or from the remote regions of Uganda the children's suffering is not over. Many of them were born in captivity and have no home. Many of them are so traumatised that they have lost all connection to their former life. They have lost their roots. Many suffer the fear of stigmatisation or revenge for crimes they have committed. After arriving in Uganda the children have to go through many stations during the admission procedures until they are rehabilitated, reintegrated and repatriated with their families - or until they are once more isolated. They are handed over to the military's "Child Protection Unit" where they are often kept for weeks regardless of their ages or the languages they speak and tested and questioned. After this they are handed over either to the Probation Department of the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare or to one of the admission centres belonging to the various NGOs there who attempt to help the children return to their families. Paramount Chief of Acholi with orphan - Photo: SOS Archives If the family cannot be found or if they decide to reject the child (because of its past as a child soldier or "soldier bride", amongst other things) then they are handed over to the Ruodhi, the "traditional chiefs" (traditional head of a village or an elected representative of the people/"king" of a clan). These people often do not have the possibility of taking in orphaned children into their communities and to care for them. In the worst cases those children who cannot be taken in anywhere are left to fend for themselves. In the past orphaned children were taken in either by close or distant relatives in the traditional family system. AIDS has destroyed these family nets over vast regions. As for alternatives forms of care such as adoption, these are entirely unknown in East Africa.