Gerald Bareebe
28 July 2008
Kampala — Participants at a Femrite seminar in Kampala could not hold back the tears as they listened to shocking tales of women's suffering in the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) war.
This was at a seminar organised by the Uganda Female Writers Association (Femrite) in Kampala recently. The German ambassador, Mr Reinhard Buchholz, was chief guest.
Emotions engulfed the audience as the war victims narrated their experiences. One lady (names withheld), a survivor of the attack on Abia camp narrated how she struggled to save her family when the hut in which they were living was set ablaze by the rebels.
"I called out, 'my children, let us get out, let us not die in this house. Even if I die, you children must remain,' she said. "Then I saw my children crawling out of their hiding [places] one by one. I saw one of my children trying to draw her head in the pot of drinking water. I quickly removed my shirt, wrapped one up, threw him outside, and quickly ran back inside to rescue another."
She continued, "As I was still struggling, fire blocked the entrance. I pleaded with people who could hear, to come and help me. 'The rebels have killed my children,' I said. 'Please don't let me die alone with my children.'"
Another victim, who survived the 2004 Barlonyo attack, explains how her resilience helped her escape death. "Bullets were exploding in the air. I got up to help my drunken husband but given his state, I could not do much to help him. He just fell on the ground," she said. "I started running, bullets hit the person next to me. With a baby on my back, I just continued running as another bullet hit the other person behind me. I just continued running until I reached a thicket from where I hid, but still I could hear gunshots."
A former LRA hostage, who spent 13 years in the bush, recalls how traumatised she felt after being rejected by her community. "I am now alone. All my parents were killed. There were rumours that I am Kony's wife," she said. The neighbours do not like me. They even wanted to kill me because they knew when the rebels come, they would kill them because of my escape."
She recalls how rebels forced her to sleep with a man or she be killed. "They would give you to a man of their choice. If you refuse, they kill you. I was given an elderly man to be my husband."
A woman who was raped while pregnant, revealed how she gave birth while trying to escape a rebel attack. "I ran until I reached a butter tree, where the contractions intensified and I gave birth all by myself." "I had plaited my hair with threads. I used a strand of hair from my head and to tie the baby's cord," she said.
"The baby's cord healed and fell in the bush but the child's survival was a struggle," she said. "To prevent the baby's cord from rotting, I had to clean it using saliva. The child is alive to this day."
Moved by the stories, the German envoy said he was ready to work with the government to ensure that IDPs return home. Mr Buchholz revealed that Germany has set up a psychiatric centre at Gulu University where war victims can be counselled.
Mr Buchholz also challenged the media to make the war in northern Uganda a public issue, arguing that this will be the only way to attract global attention to the conflict.
"Broadcasting people's war experience is the best way to bring attention to the conflict," Mr Buchholz said. "It shows how difficult life is without peace and it makes the victims feel that they are not alone."
He said Germany will work with Femrite to spread knowledge about conflict in northern Uganda. He said by publishing the testimonies of war victims, information about life in northern Uganda will become public and will reach more people throughout the world.
The government and the LRA, led by Joseph Kony have been engaged in peace talks in the South Sudan city of Juba since 2006 but after striking a deal early this year Kony refused to sign the agreement.
This created doubts as to whether peace will return to the northern Uganda although President Museveni has consistently said the rebels will no longer cause chaos -- with or without the agreement.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
