Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Child Soldiers in Uganda
It is now over one year since peace talks between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance began in Sudan. A year later little has changed and people are still suffering, especially women and children.
The endless war in northern Uganda has affected mostly women and children. Many women have become widows as a result of the rebels killing their husbands. Consequently, they are overloaded with the heavy responsibility of looking after orphans.
And women do not have time to rest. They wake up early in the morning to find ways of feeding their children, with whom they have to move long distances in search of food. At the end of the day, they come back very tired, and so stressed and frustrated that they cannot sleep at night.
The majority of women are suffering due to the loss of their husbands and relatives. They look for money to take their children to school yet they have no proper source of income, nobody to give them a hand, because almost everybody finds herself in the same situation.
Children in the aftermath of war
The SOS Social Centre in Gulu supports over 250 children and mothers in the community who have been affected by the civil war with counseling, and medical, nutritional and educational support. Former child soldiers also receive counseling.
Education, health care and employment are human rights. Due to poverty, illness and the political unrest in the area, the number of children without the support of their natural family is increasing steadily and SOS Children is constantly developing its approach to child care in order to meet these changing needs.The aim of our “Family Strengthening Programmes” and SOS Social Centres is to respond realistically and effectively to the situation of orphans, vulnerable children and their families and to prevent child abandonment. Through skills training, literacy classes, education, counseling and improved nutrition the families know they can become independent, self-reliant and confident in their own ability to provide for the children in their care. Ultimately the communities want to care for their children.
The Social Centre opened in June 2002 and currently provides all the services mentioned above to 250 children and female guardians/mothers. The parents/guardians are also supported with training in agriculture and tailoring, for example, and those who want to set up small businesses are offered business training and micro loans; they will ultimately be more able to financially and emotionally support the children in their care and this lessens the risk of child abandonment. We also run a day-care centre for 50 children from single-parent families here, and the SOS Medical Centre, which is part of the SOS Social Centre, cares for 60-80 patients per day (roughly 25,500 people each year). The patients receive health counseling (for example, counseling for people affected by HIV/AIDS), health education and immunization programmes. Preventative medical services are the mainstay of this clinic, but medicines are also provided to the sick.
Socially, most women have low self-esteem as a result of this war that has left with them lifelong bad memories. Either they have been sexually abused by the rebels and other people taking advantage of war, or they have been abducted from their families and taken to the bush, where they have seen their loved ones being killed. They find themselves lonely and isolated leading to low self-esteem and inability to cope in the society.
Many young women are child mothers who bore children after being forced into marriage by the rebels at a young age. This has affected their own mothers who see their daughters returning home, at the age of 20, with several children. And the social life of the local Acholi women has greatly changed. Some women have become unfaithful while others have unwanted pregnancies and end up either aborting or abandoning the babies on failing to be supported.
Children are traumatised
Children, on the other hand, have been very much abused. They return home from the bush when they are mentally traumatised and unable to live with other normal children. They display inappropriate behaviour to the extent that handling them requires specialists, who are lacking in our community. Men have abandoned their families and children have suffered most. This explains why there is an increasing number of street children in Gulu town and other towns in northern Uganda.
However, despite the overwhelming numbers of needy children, SOS Children is playing a very important role in preventing child abandonment and catering for the orphaned and abandoned children of northern Uganda. For the sake of the women and children of northern Uganda, the peace talks must not fail.
http://www.child-soldier.org/children-in-conflict-child-soldiers-in-uganda
The endless war in northern Uganda has affected mostly women and children. Many women have become widows as a result of the rebels killing their husbands. Consequently, they are overloaded with the heavy responsibility of looking after orphans.
And women do not have time to rest. They wake up early in the morning to find ways of feeding their children, with whom they have to move long distances in search of food. At the end of the day, they come back very tired, and so stressed and frustrated that they cannot sleep at night.
The majority of women are suffering due to the loss of their husbands and relatives. They look for money to take their children to school yet they have no proper source of income, nobody to give them a hand, because almost everybody finds herself in the same situation.
Children in the aftermath of war
The SOS Social Centre in Gulu supports over 250 children and mothers in the community who have been affected by the civil war with counseling, and medical, nutritional and educational support. Former child soldiers also receive counseling.
Education, health care and employment are human rights. Due to poverty, illness and the political unrest in the area, the number of children without the support of their natural family is increasing steadily and SOS Children is constantly developing its approach to child care in order to meet these changing needs.The aim of our “Family Strengthening Programmes” and SOS Social Centres is to respond realistically and effectively to the situation of orphans, vulnerable children and their families and to prevent child abandonment. Through skills training, literacy classes, education, counseling and improved nutrition the families know they can become independent, self-reliant and confident in their own ability to provide for the children in their care. Ultimately the communities want to care for their children.
The Social Centre opened in June 2002 and currently provides all the services mentioned above to 250 children and female guardians/mothers. The parents/guardians are also supported with training in agriculture and tailoring, for example, and those who want to set up small businesses are offered business training and micro loans; they will ultimately be more able to financially and emotionally support the children in their care and this lessens the risk of child abandonment. We also run a day-care centre for 50 children from single-parent families here, and the SOS Medical Centre, which is part of the SOS Social Centre, cares for 60-80 patients per day (roughly 25,500 people each year). The patients receive health counseling (for example, counseling for people affected by HIV/AIDS), health education and immunization programmes. Preventative medical services are the mainstay of this clinic, but medicines are also provided to the sick.
Socially, most women have low self-esteem as a result of this war that has left with them lifelong bad memories. Either they have been sexually abused by the rebels and other people taking advantage of war, or they have been abducted from their families and taken to the bush, where they have seen their loved ones being killed. They find themselves lonely and isolated leading to low self-esteem and inability to cope in the society.
Many young women are child mothers who bore children after being forced into marriage by the rebels at a young age. This has affected their own mothers who see their daughters returning home, at the age of 20, with several children. And the social life of the local Acholi women has greatly changed. Some women have become unfaithful while others have unwanted pregnancies and end up either aborting or abandoning the babies on failing to be supported.
Children are traumatised
Children, on the other hand, have been very much abused. They return home from the bush when they are mentally traumatised and unable to live with other normal children. They display inappropriate behaviour to the extent that handling them requires specialists, who are lacking in our community. Men have abandoned their families and children have suffered most. This explains why there is an increasing number of street children in Gulu town and other towns in northern Uganda.
However, despite the overwhelming numbers of needy children, SOS Children is playing a very important role in preventing child abandonment and catering for the orphaned and abandoned children of northern Uganda. For the sake of the women and children of northern Uganda, the peace talks must not fail.
http://www.child-soldier.org/children-in-conflict-child-soldiers-in-uganda
David Cameron's reponse to Juliets letter
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36061066/Letter-From-David-Cameron-to-Juliet
Juliets letter to British Priminister David Cameron
Dear David Cameron,
My name is Juliet. I come from Northern Uganda. I am visiting London this week because the charity war child helped me to come to England to share my story with school children and politicians. I am weiting to you to appeal for your support for girls like me who have been affected by conflict. when I was 12, I was abducted by rebels from Lord's Resistence Army. I experience many terrible things. I saw many children being killed. We moved long distances, carrying heavy luggage with children on our backs. My friend whom we were abducted together also died. At 14, I was forced into sexual relationship with a man above my age. I got pregnant and had painful labour for two weeks. in the bush there is no hospital. I was not in a position to deliver so the baby died and I got health problems. Eventually I was taken to kenya for treentment and from there I planned my escape.
I was lucky and i managed to get away. I made it back to my family and got help to rebuild my life. many people and organisations helped me including The Christian Counseling Fellowship and WarChild Uk who helped me back to school, get medical support and counselling.
when I was in the bush I missed school for 6 years but alwys had the desire to go back to school. I now joined the school that was founded to help children who have been affected by war including child mothers. the school has a day care centre so girls with babies can still study and breastfeed during break times. Expectant mothers get medical support from school.
This is the only school in Uganda like this, without this school, girl mothers and former girl soldiers would not be able to be in education. Returning to studies after a long time away was very difficult but I am making it. I am Head Girl and I hope to continue to university to study law.
I want to be a lawyer so I can defend girls who have been sexually abused and to bring men who abuse to justice.
Many girls in northern Uganda and other countries affected by conflict all over the world have experienced the same situation that I went through. Girls suffer most in the war. Girls and many young woman are making up more than half the people in these countries. I appreciate the UK government for their kindness upon the children of northern Uganda. I thank you for giving money to help my country and I ask that your money reaches girls affected by conflict so the impact of you will be greater as more people will be helped.
When you meet the United nations this September to talk about developement in poor countries, please remember us girls who went through conflict. We can get great thing if supported in education.
I have never forgotten about the children and girls who are still in the bush. I also appeal to you to find a way to relaease the girls and children who are still in the bush with the LRA in the Demcratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic and South Sudan. They should come back home and be supported with studies. This is an international problems and I ask you to take international leadership to stop this injustice which is still carrying on.
I request your support to help girls and v=children like me. We should be in school and in a position to achieve in life. We should not be forced into war and early marraige.
I also give you a present. on the CD is a message from my friends in northern Uganda and also some of the children I met in England.
Thank you very much
Apio Juliet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/warchild/4792633847/in/photostream/
My name is Juliet. I come from Northern Uganda. I am visiting London this week because the charity war child helped me to come to England to share my story with school children and politicians. I am weiting to you to appeal for your support for girls like me who have been affected by conflict. when I was 12, I was abducted by rebels from Lord's Resistence Army. I experience many terrible things. I saw many children being killed. We moved long distances, carrying heavy luggage with children on our backs. My friend whom we were abducted together also died. At 14, I was forced into sexual relationship with a man above my age. I got pregnant and had painful labour for two weeks. in the bush there is no hospital. I was not in a position to deliver so the baby died and I got health problems. Eventually I was taken to kenya for treentment and from there I planned my escape.
I was lucky and i managed to get away. I made it back to my family and got help to rebuild my life. many people and organisations helped me including The Christian Counseling Fellowship and WarChild Uk who helped me back to school, get medical support and counselling.
when I was in the bush I missed school for 6 years but alwys had the desire to go back to school. I now joined the school that was founded to help children who have been affected by war including child mothers. the school has a day care centre so girls with babies can still study and breastfeed during break times. Expectant mothers get medical support from school.
This is the only school in Uganda like this, without this school, girl mothers and former girl soldiers would not be able to be in education. Returning to studies after a long time away was very difficult but I am making it. I am Head Girl and I hope to continue to university to study law.
I want to be a lawyer so I can defend girls who have been sexually abused and to bring men who abuse to justice.
Many girls in northern Uganda and other countries affected by conflict all over the world have experienced the same situation that I went through. Girls suffer most in the war. Girls and many young woman are making up more than half the people in these countries. I appreciate the UK government for their kindness upon the children of northern Uganda. I thank you for giving money to help my country and I ask that your money reaches girls affected by conflict so the impact of you will be greater as more people will be helped.
When you meet the United nations this September to talk about developement in poor countries, please remember us girls who went through conflict. We can get great thing if supported in education.
I have never forgotten about the children and girls who are still in the bush. I also appeal to you to find a way to relaease the girls and children who are still in the bush with the LRA in the Demcratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic and South Sudan. They should come back home and be supported with studies. This is an international problems and I ask you to take international leadership to stop this injustice which is still carrying on.
I request your support to help girls and v=children like me. We should be in school and in a position to achieve in life. We should not be forced into war and early marraige.
I also give you a present. on the CD is a message from my friends in northern Uganda and also some of the children I met in England.
Thank you very much
Apio Juliet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/warchild/4792633847/in/photostream/
Child Soldiers Facts
Child soldiers
The use of children in armed conflict is one of the most atrocious effects of war.
•An estimated 300,000 boys and girls are currently trained for combat or used as porters, spies or sex slaves in conflicts around the world today.
•In northern Uganda, at least 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during a ruthless 18-year war.
http://www.rescue-uk.org/in-the-field/how-we-help/children-and-young-people/
The use of children in armed conflict is one of the most atrocious effects of war.
•An estimated 300,000 boys and girls are currently trained for combat or used as porters, spies or sex slaves in conflicts around the world today.
•In northern Uganda, at least 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during a ruthless 18-year war.
http://www.rescue-uk.org/in-the-field/how-we-help/children-and-young-people/
CNN report on child soldiers, featuring War Child beneficiary Juliet
Bit more in depth look into Juliet's story and child soldiers
Juliet's story - From Child Soldier to Global Campaigner
Captivity
Juliet’s unborn baby turned out to be her saviour.
Kidnapped by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Northern Uganda when she was just 12 years old, Juliet had no means of escape from the bush where she was being held captive.
At 16 she fell pregnant after being forced to become the ‘wife’ of a rebel commander.
“Soldiers are not allowed to fall in love. If one is caught charming a girl he is killed. Girls are there to be used whenever they want.”
During labour, she was forced to walk for miles as the rebels tried to evade the Ugandan army. The journey caused her son to die before he was even born. So Juliet had to endure an agonising operation to remove the baby.
There was no anaesthetic, just a local doctor and a razor blade.
“If your baby dies you are not supposed to mourn for it. If you do, they will kill you. You have just to go somewhere secretly and cry. When you return, you should look like nothing has happened.”
Escape
After the crude operation Juliet’s health rapidly deteriorated. However, during peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan Government in 2006 she was given the chance to get hospital treatment in neighbouring Kenya – though an LRA escort had to stay with her at all times.
While in hospital Juliet befriended a nurse who heard her story and helped her to escape.
“When I was packing my bags I felt no fear. All I knew is that I was not going back to that place”
Juliet, with the assistance of the Ugandan Embassy, was then able to board a flight back to the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Reunion
Juliet now attends a school in Northern Uganda created especially for girls who have missed out on education because of the conflict. She is working hard to catch up on the years of schooling she missed whilst in captivity with the LRA
“When I came back I really wanted to go back to school. Although a terrible thing happened to me when my baby died, it led me to get the chance to escape. It shows that something positive can come from something terrible.”
“If you are not educated, you are nothing.”
Juliet
Juliet now hopes to continue her studies at university and qualify as a lawyer so that she can bring those who have recruited and abused girls to justice. As she points out: “Many girls have been through hardship like me, they are denied an education.”
London
To help Juliet get her voice heard and her plight understood, we brought her to London for a week. We supported her to campaign on behalf of the thousands of girls in northern Uganda who are still being denied an education.
She delivered a personal letter and video message to the Prime Minister, appeared on TV and radio, lobbied politicians and inspired school students with her incredible story and compassionate, positive outlook.
Her impact
Juliet’s letter received a personal response from David Cameron and she was mentioned in a debate in the House of Lords by Lord Alton after meeting him. Audiences across CNN, BBC Radio 4, The BBC World Service and beyond heard her incredible story, and she made a real impact on the lives of the young people she met in the two schools she visited whilst she was here.
Hundreds of school students wrote and signed letters in support of Juliet, and we used those to lobby politicians as part of the Global Campaign for Education and the Millennium Development Goals summit meeting in New York in September.
Juliet hopes her journey - from abducted child soldier to global campaigner - will demonstrate the power of education not only in transforming the lives of individuals but also conflict-affected countries as a whole. As Juliet says, “children who experience terrible things can also achieve great things in life – if they are given an education.”
“I feel like I've changed a lot having met you, and I really am going to strive towards my goals the way you have. You had nothing and yet you fought so hard to gain what you now have and that sense of achievement must be absolutely amazing so I truly hope that I can be as successful as you have been.”
Catherine, a 15 year old student from Calthorpe Park School that met Juliet
Child Soldiers
Facts on Child Soldiers
•There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today.
•It is estimated that 40% of all child soldiers are girls. They are often used as 'wives' (i.e. sex slaves) of the male combatants.
•Many rebel groups use child soldiers to fight the government, but some governments also use child soldiers in armed conflict.
•Not all children take part in active combat. Some are also used as porters, cooks and spies.
•As part of their recruitment, children are sometimes forced to kill or maim a family member - thus breaking the bonds with their community and making it difficult for them to return home.
Why are children used as soldiers?
Children are used as soldiers because they are easier to condition and brainwash. They don't eat much food, don't need paying much and have an underdeveloped sense of danger so are easier to send into the line of fire.
As children make up the majority demographic in many conflict-affected countries, there's a constant supply of potential recruits. Due to their size and 'expendability', children are often sent into battle as scouts or decoys, or sent in the first wave to draw the enemy's fire.
What are the effects on children?
The effects on children are felt long after their physical scars have healed and their drug dependencies overcome. Many child soldiers are desensitised to violence - often at a very formative time in their development and this can psychologically damage them for life.
Even when they're set free or escape, many children can't go back home to their families and communities because they've been ostracised from them. They may have been forced to kill a family member or neighbour just so they can never go back. Many girls have babies from their time in the rebel groups and their communities/families don't accept them home.
Most have missed out on school - sometimes for many years. Without an education they have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no other way of feeding themselves.
How do child soldiers get recruited?
Some are abducted from their homes and forced to become soldiers
a tactic notoriously used by the Lords Resistance Army.)
A village may be forced to provide a certain number of children as soldiers in exchange for staying safe from attack.
Some children are volunteered by their parents due to extreme poverty and hunger at home.
In some rare cases children volunteer to join the fight because of ideological reasons or to avenge the death of their family.
www.warchild.org.uk
•There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today.
•It is estimated that 40% of all child soldiers are girls. They are often used as 'wives' (i.e. sex slaves) of the male combatants.
•Many rebel groups use child soldiers to fight the government, but some governments also use child soldiers in armed conflict.
•Not all children take part in active combat. Some are also used as porters, cooks and spies.
•As part of their recruitment, children are sometimes forced to kill or maim a family member - thus breaking the bonds with their community and making it difficult for them to return home.
Why are children used as soldiers?
Children are used as soldiers because they are easier to condition and brainwash. They don't eat much food, don't need paying much and have an underdeveloped sense of danger so are easier to send into the line of fire.
As children make up the majority demographic in many conflict-affected countries, there's a constant supply of potential recruits. Due to their size and 'expendability', children are often sent into battle as scouts or decoys, or sent in the first wave to draw the enemy's fire.
What are the effects on children?
The effects on children are felt long after their physical scars have healed and their drug dependencies overcome. Many child soldiers are desensitised to violence - often at a very formative time in their development and this can psychologically damage them for life.
Even when they're set free or escape, many children can't go back home to their families and communities because they've been ostracised from them. They may have been forced to kill a family member or neighbour just so they can never go back. Many girls have babies from their time in the rebel groups and their communities/families don't accept them home.
Most have missed out on school - sometimes for many years. Without an education they have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no other way of feeding themselves.
How do child soldiers get recruited?
Some are abducted from their homes and forced to become soldiers
a tactic notoriously used by the Lords Resistance Army.)
A village may be forced to provide a certain number of children as soldiers in exchange for staying safe from attack.
Some children are volunteered by their parents due to extreme poverty and hunger at home.
In some rare cases children volunteer to join the fight because of ideological reasons or to avenge the death of their family.
www.warchild.org.uk
Child Soldiers In Uganda
Many thousands of people in the Acholi region in Northern Uganda had to flee their homes during the 20 year insurgency by the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
At the height of the conflict 87% of the population of Pader district were forcibly moved into Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps because the government forces could no longer protect them in their villages. It is thought that more than 60,000 children in Uganda were child soldiers.
Since the fighting stopped in 2006 relative security has returned to the region, and the government has ordered people to return to their villages. There were a large number of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) delivering services to people in the camps, but as the population has disbursed, NGOs have withdrawn from the area and families are having to travel further to reach facilities such as schools, hospitals and bore holes.
Lawrence aged 14
Uganda
Lawrence desperately wanted to get into school, it was poverty that kept him out. Poverty and conflict. And the horrific events that took place one afternoon six years ago.
Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army descended upon his village one day and took his parents, two brothers and sisters into the bush to execute them. His mum survived but she was seriously wounded and can now do very little physical labour.
Unable to earn a living, she had no choice but to pull Lawrence out of school so he could help out. He had to wake up at 6:30am for a back-breaking daily routine of farm work.
It’s a pretty bleak situation for such a bright kid to find himself in.
When we first met Lawrence he told us: “Without education I have no option but to stay as a farmer. I feel education could brighten my future and I could support my mother fully. But right now it’s not possible.”
With the help and support of warchild and child sponsors, that future is now a real possibility. Donations have helped pay for him to go back to school. It’s no exaggeration to say that this education could well transform his whole life. Now he dreams of becoming a teacher.
(www.warchild.org.uk)
At the height of the conflict 87% of the population of Pader district were forcibly moved into Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps because the government forces could no longer protect them in their villages. It is thought that more than 60,000 children in Uganda were child soldiers.
Since the fighting stopped in 2006 relative security has returned to the region, and the government has ordered people to return to their villages. There were a large number of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) delivering services to people in the camps, but as the population has disbursed, NGOs have withdrawn from the area and families are having to travel further to reach facilities such as schools, hospitals and bore holes.
Lawrence aged 14
Uganda
Lawrence desperately wanted to get into school, it was poverty that kept him out. Poverty and conflict. And the horrific events that took place one afternoon six years ago.
Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army descended upon his village one day and took his parents, two brothers and sisters into the bush to execute them. His mum survived but she was seriously wounded and can now do very little physical labour.
Unable to earn a living, she had no choice but to pull Lawrence out of school so he could help out. He had to wake up at 6:30am for a back-breaking daily routine of farm work.
It’s a pretty bleak situation for such a bright kid to find himself in.
When we first met Lawrence he told us: “Without education I have no option but to stay as a farmer. I feel education could brighten my future and I could support my mother fully. But right now it’s not possible.”
With the help and support of warchild and child sponsors, that future is now a real possibility. Donations have helped pay for him to go back to school. It’s no exaggeration to say that this education could well transform his whole life. Now he dreams of becoming a teacher.
(www.warchild.org.uk)
Monday, January 23, 2012
The LRA today
"The war in northern Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) have been waging a war that has left nearly two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The GoU's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known peace."
Joseph Kony leads the LRA. The LRA rebels abduct children and indoctrinate them into their ranks. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children.
The LRA left Uganda in June 2006 when the Juba Peace Talks began. Ever since the peace talks fell apart in 2008, the LRA has been active in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
There is a website that gives near real-time updates on LRA location and activity LRACrisisTracker.com
At the moment Uganda's border regions of South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are experiencing ongoing LRA attacks and abductions. Not only have the LRA been terrorizing Uganda for the past 23 years it is now spreading to bordering countries.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
collage of uganda
I created a collage of images from uganda of its scenery, people, animals, homes and culture. This is a research aid to the visual design of the graphic novel.
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
The Lord's Resistance Army is a militant and cannibalistic group with a syncretic Christian extreme religious ideology. The group operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Africa. The group used to operate mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the DRC.
The LRA was formed in 1987 and until about 2007 it was engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Holy Spirit, which the group believes can represent itself in many manifestations.
The group is based on a number of different beliefs including local religious rituals, mysticism, traditional religion, Acholi nationalism and Christianity and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities.
Ideology
The LRA's ideology is disputed amongst academics. Although the LRA has been regarded primarily as a Christian militia, the LRA reportedly evokes Acholi nationalism on occasion.
Robert Gersony, in a report funded by United States Embassy in Kampala in 1997, concluded that "the LRA has no political program or ideology, at least none that the local population has heard or can understand." The International Crisis Group has stated that "the LRA is not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflect this."
IRIN comments that "the LRA remains one of the least understood rebel movements in the world, and its ideology, as far as it has one, is difficult to understand."UPDF Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza has said that "you can't tell whether they want political power. Its only aim is to terrorize and brutalize the civilian population and to loot their homes."
During an interview with IRIN, Vincent Otti was asked about the LRA's vision of an ideal government, to which he responded,
"Lord’s Resistance Army is just the name of the movement, because we are fighting in the name of God. God is the one helping us in the bush. That’s why we created this name, Lord’s Resistance Army. And people always ask us, are we fighting for the [biblical] Ten Commandments of God. That is true – because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world. All people. If you go to the constitution, nobody will accept people who steal, nobody could accept to go and take somebody’s wife, nobody could accept to innocently kill, or whatever. The Ten Commandments carries all this."
In a speech delivered by James Alfred Obita, former Secretary For External Affairs And Mobilisation, and Leader of Delegation of the Lord's Resistance Army, he adamantly denied that the LRA was "just an Acholi thing" and stated that claims made by the media and Museveni administration asserting that the LRA is a "group of Christian fundamentalists with bizarre beliefs whose aim is to topple the Museveni regime and replace it with governance based on the Bible's ten commandments" were false.
In the same speech, Obita also stated that the LRA's objectives are:
1-To fight for the immediate restoration of competitive multi-party democracy in Uganda.
2-To see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans.
3-To ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda.
4-To ensure unity, sovereignty and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans
5-To bring to an end to the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the National Resistance Army's ideology.
The original aims of the group were more closely aligned with those of it's predecesor, the Holy Spirit Movement. Protection of the Acholi population was of great concern because of the reality of ethnic purges in the history of Uganda. This created a great deal of concern in the Acholi community as well as a strong desire for formidable leadership and protection.[47] As the conflict has progressed, fewer and fewer Acholi offered sufficient support to the rebels in the eyes of the LRA.This led to an increased amount of violence toward the non-combatant population, which in turn further alienated them from the rebels.This self-perpetuating cycle led to the creation of a strict divide between Acholis and rebels, a divide that was previously not explicitly present.
However, many would believe that the ideologies of the LRA are nothing but hypocrisy. According to the California based organization, Invisible Children, the LRA is no more than a terrorist group disguising themselves as Christian based. The LRA uses tactics of physical and emotional intimidation to seduce children into joining their forces.
Troop strength
The government of Uganda claims that the LRA has only 500 or 1,000 soldiers in total, but other sources estimate that there could be as many as 3,000 soldiers, along with about 1,500 women and children. The bulk of the soldiers fighting for the LRA are children. According to Livingstone Sewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Yoweri Museveni was the first to use child soldiers in this conflict. Since the LRA first started fighting in 1987 they may have forced well over 10,000 boys and girls into combat, often killing family, neighbors and school teachers in the process.
Many of these children were put on the front lines so the casualty rate for these children has been high. They have often used children to fight because they are easy to replace by raiding schools or villages. The soldiers are organized into independent squads of 10 or 20 soldiers.Sudan has provided military assistance to the LRA, in response to Uganda lending military support to the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army
Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army: a primer
By Elizabeth Flock
President Obama, in a letter to Congress, has authorized the deployment of about 100 U.S. combat forces to central Africa to assist in the fight against the notoriously savage Lord’s Resistance Army.
One of the world's most wanted rebel chiefs, Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army, seen on TV in 2006. The goal: to track down LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony.
Here’s some things to know about Kony and the group:
- Kony proclaims himself the “spokesperson” of God.
- The group claims to be Protestant, with influences of mysticism. Kony believes he is a medium of the Holy Spirit.
- Kony is on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list.
- The LRA, a sectarian religious and military group that has operated in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan since 1987. They have since spread their operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The U.S. Treasury has Kony on its list of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
- Kony’s aunt started the predecessor to the LRA.
- The Post’s William Branigin writes Kony “formed his Lord’s Resistance Army from the remnants of the Holy Spirit Movement, an armed group led by his aunt that fought the Ugandan government in the late 1980s.”
- Responsible for mass human rights violations.
- Since its creation in 1987, the group has engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government and committed an extraordinary number of human rights violations. Most notably, his troops enter a village, killing the adults and kidnapping the children. The boys are enscripted into the army and the girls are taken as ‘bush wives.’
- Obama notes in his letter that the LRA has “murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in central Africa” and “continues to commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security.”
Why is the US going in there?
In May of 2010, Obama signed a bill committing the United States to help arrest Kony. Kenneth Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch wrote in October of 2010 that Obama needed to put in practice what the president said during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “Force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans.”
What does the LRA want?
The LRA wants to establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and the tradition of the Acholi people, an ethnic group in northern Uganda.
This three-minute short film was produced by the group Invisible Children, a non-profit organization working to end Kony’s rule.
Profile Of Uganda
The republic of uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa".
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
Geography
The country is located on the East African plateau. It averages about 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) above sea level, and this slopes very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain to the north. However, much of the south is poorly drained, while the centre is dominated by Lake Kyoga, which is also surrounded by extensive marshy areas. Uganda lies almost completely within the Nile basin. The Victoria Nile drains from the lake into Lake Kyoga and thence into Lake Albert on the Congolese border. It then runs northwards into South Sudan. One small area on the eastern edge of Uganda is drained by the Turkwel River, part of the internal drainage basin of Lake Turkana.
Lake Kyoga serves as a rough boundary between Bantu speakers in the south and Nilotic and Central Sudanic language speakers in the north. Despite the division between north and south in political affairs, this linguistic boundary runs roughly from northwest to southeast, near the course of the Nile. However, many Ugandans live among people who speak different languages, especially in rural areas. Some sources describe regional variation in terms of physical characteristics, clothing, bodily adornment, and mannerisms, but others claim that those differences are disappearing.
Although generally equatorial, the climate is not uniform as the altitude modifies the climate. Southern Uganda is wetter with rain generally spread throughout the year. At Entebbe on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, most rain falls from March to June and in the November/December period. Further to the north a dry season gradually emerges; at Gulu about 120 km from the South Sudanese border, November to February is much drier than the rest of the year.
The northeastern Karamoja region has the driest climate and is prone to droughts in some years. Rwenzori in the southwest on the border with Congo (DRC) receives heavy rain all year round. The south of the country is heavily influenced by one of the world's biggest lakes, Lake Victoria, which contains many islands. It prevents temperatures from varying significantly and increases cloudiness and rainfall. Most important cities are located in the south, near Lake Victoria, including the capital Kampala and the nearby city of Entebbe.
Although landlocked, Uganda contains many large lakes; besides Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga, there are Lake Albert, Lake Edward and the smaller Lake George.
Districts, counties and kingdoms
Uganda is divided into districts, spread across four administrative regions: Northern, Eastern, Central (Kingdom of Buganda) and Western. The districts are subdivided into counties. A number of districts have been added in the past few years, and eight others were added on July 1, 2006 plus others added in 2010. There are now over 100 districts. Most districts are named after their main commercial and administrative towns. Each district is divided into sub-districts, counties, sub-counties, parishes and villages.
Parallel with the state administration, six traditional Bantu kingdoms have remained, enjoying some degrees of mainly cultural autonomy. The kingdoms are Toro, Ankole, Busoga, Bunyoro, Buganda and Rwenzururu.
Demographics
Uganda is home to many different ethnic groups, none of whom forms a majority of the population. Around forty different languages are regularly and currently in use in the country. English became the official language of Uganda after independence. Ugandan English is a local variant dialect.
The most widely spoken local language in Uganda is Luganda, spoken predominantly by the Ganda people (Baganda) in the urban concentrations of Kampala, the capital city, and in towns and localities in the Buganda region of Uganda which encompasses Kampala. The Lusoga and Runyankore-Rukiga languages follow, spoken predominantly in the southeastern and southwestern parts of Uganda respectively.
Swahili, a widely used language throughout eastern and central East Africa, was approved as the country's second official national language in 2005, though this is somewhat politically sensitive. Though the language has not been favoured by the Bantu-speaking populations of the south and southwest of the country, it is an important lingua franca in the northern regions. It is also widely used in the police and military forces, which may be a historical result of the disproportionate recruitment of northerners into the security forces during the colonial period. The status of Swahili has thus alternated with the political group in power.For example, Amin, who came from the northwest, declared Swahili to be the national language.
Uganda’s population has grown from 4.8 million people in 1950 to 24.3 million in 2002. The current estimated population of Uganda is 32.4 million. Uganda has a very young population, with a median age of 15 years.
Sport
Football, cricket and rallying.
Football
Games involving the Ugandan national football team usually attract large crowds of Ugandans from all walks of life. The Ugandan Super League is the top division of Ugandan football contested by 16 clubs from across the country; it was created in 1968. Football in Uganda is managed by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA). The association administers the national football team, as well as the Super League. South African broadcaster DStv through its Super Sport network broadcasts the Ugandan League to 46 different countries in sub Saharan Africa. Football is played all over Uganda especially by children in schools and young people on a variety of pitch surfaces. There is a strong following amongst Ugandans for European club football especially the English Premier League with London club Arsenal FC having the biggest following closely followed by Manchester United; Liverpool and Chelsea come in at a distant third and fourth respectively. Barcelona in Spain has also attracted a sizable following in Uganda due to its recent run of success in La Liga and Uefa Champions League. Uganda's most famous footballers are David Obua of Scottish club Hearts and Ibrahim Sekagya, who is the captain of the national team, Austria's Red Bulls and Nestroy Kizito. Uganda's notable past greats of the game include Denis Obua, Majid Musisi, Fimbo Mukasa and Paul Kasule.
Education
Illiteracy is common in Uganda, particularly amongst females. Public spending on education was at 5.2 % of the 2002–2005 GDP. Much public education in primary and secondary schools focuses upon repetition and memorization. There are also state exams that must be taken at every level of education. Uganda has both private and public universities. The largest university in Uganda is Makerere University, located outside of Kampala. The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. The present system has existed since the early 1960s. Although some primary education is compulsory under law, in many rural communities this is not observed as many families feel they cannot afford costs such as uniforms and equipment. State schools are usually run by the Church of Uganda and are built on land owned as such. In primary education, children sit exams at the end of each academic year in order to discern whether they are to progress to the next class; this leads to some classes which include a large range of ages. Upon completing P7 (The final year of primary education), many children from poorer rural communities will return to their families for subsistence farming. Secondary education is focused mainly in larger cities, with boarding optional. Children are usually presented with an equipment list which they are to obtain at the beginning of their time at secondary school. This list classically includes items such as writing equipment, toilet roll and cleaning brushes, all of which the student must have upon admission to school.
Cuisine
Ugandan cuisine consists of traditional cooking with English, Arab, Asian and especially Indian influences. Like the cuisines of most countries, it varies in complexity, from the most basic, a starchy filler with a sauce of beans or meat, to several-course meals served in upper-class homes and high-end restaurants.
Main dishes are usually centered on a sauce or stew of groundnuts, beans or meat. The starch traditionally comes from ugali (maize meal) or matoke (boiled and mashed green banana) in the South, or an ugali made from millet in the North. Cassava, yam and African sweet potato are also eaten; the more affluent include white (often called "Irish") potato and rice in their diets. Soybeans were promoted as a healthy food staple in the 1970s and are also used especially for breakfast. Chapati, an Asian flatbread, is also part of Ugandan cuisine.
Uganda Waragi is a common alcoholic beverage in Uganda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda
Facts
Full name: Republic of Uganda
Population: 33.8 million (UN, 2010)
Capital: Kampala
Area: 241,038 sq km (93,072 sq miles)
Major languages: English (official), Swahili (official), Luganda, various Bantu and Nilotic languages
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 54 years (men), 55 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Ugandan shilling = 100 cents
Main exports: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea; tobacco, cotton, corn, beans, sesame
GNI per capita: US $500 (World Bank, 2010)
Internet domain: .ug
International dialling code: +256
Pesident: Yoweri Museveni
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14112297
A chronology of key events
1500 - Bito dynasties of Buganda, Bunyoro and Ankole founded by Nilotic-speaking immigrants from present-day southeastern Sudan.
Kampala, the capital, is spread over a series of hills
1700 - Buganda begins to expand at the expense of Bunyoro.
1800 - Buganda controls territory bordering Lake Victoria from the Victoria Nile to the Kagera river.
1840s - Muslim traders from the Indian Ocean coast exchange firearms, cloth and beads for the ivory and slaves of Buganda.
1862 - British explorer John Hanning Speke becomes the first European to visit Buganda.
1875 - Bugandan King Mutesa I allows Christian missionaries to enter his realm.
British influence
1877 - Members of the British Missionary Society arrive in Buganda.
1879 - Members of the French Roman Catholic White Fathers arrive.
1890 - Britain and Germany sign treaty giving Britain rights to what was to become Uganda.
1892 - Imperial British East Africa Company agent Frederick Lugard extends the company's control to southern Uganda and helps the Protestant missionaries defeat their Catholic counterparts, who had been competing with them, in Buganda.
1894 - Uganda becomes a British protectorate.
1900 - Britain signs agreement with Buganda giving it autonomy and turning it into a constitutional monarchy controlled mainly by Protestant chiefs.
1902 - The Eastern province of Uganda transferred to the Kenya.
1904 - Commercial cultivation of cotton begins.
1921 - Uganda given a legislative council, but its first African member not admitted till 1945.
1958 - Uganda given internal self-government.
1962 - Uganda becomes independent with Milton Obote (above) as prime minister and with Buganda enjoying considerable autonomy.
1963 - Uganda becomes a republic with Mutesa as president.
1966 - Milton Obote ends Buganda's autonomy.
1967 - New constitution vests considerable power in the president and divides Buganda into four districts.
Idi Amin years
Above is Idi Amin.
1971 - Milton Obote toppled in coup led by Idi Amin.
1972 - Amin orders Asians who were not Ugandan citizens - around 60,000 people - to leave the country.
1972-73 - Uganda engages in border clashes with Tanzania.
1976 - Idi Amin declares himself president for life and claims parts of Kenya.
1978 - Uganda invades Tanzania with a view to annexing Kagera region.
1979 - Tanzania invades Uganda, unifying the various anti-Amin forces under the Uganda National Liberation Front and forcing Amin to flee the country; Yusufu Lule installed as president, but is quickly replaced by Godfrey Binaisa.
1980 - Binaisa overthrown by the army.
Milton Obote becomes president after elections.
1985 - Obote deposed in military coup and is replaced by Tito Okello.
1986 - National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install Yoweri Museveni (below) as president.
Beginnings of recovery
1993 - Museveni restores the traditional kings, including the king of Buganda, but without giving them political power.
1995 - New constitution legalises political parties but maintains the ban on political activity.
1996 - Museveni returned to office in Uganda's first direct presidential election.
1997 - Ugandan troops help depose Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who is replaced by Laurent Kabila.
1998 - Ugandan troops intervene in the Democratic republic of Congo on the side of rebels seeking to overthrow Kabila.
2000 - Ugandans vote to reject multi-party politics in favour of continuing Museveni's "no-party" system.
2001 January - East African Community (EAC) inaugurated in Arusha, Tanzania, laying groundwork for common East African passport, flag, economic and monetary integration. Members are Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
2001 March - Uganda classifies Rwanda, its former ally in the civil war in DR Congo, as a hostile nation because of fighting in 2000 between the two countries' armies in DR Congo.
Museveni wins another term in office, beating his rival Kizza Besigye by 69% to 28%.
Campaign against rebels
2002 March - Sudan, Uganda sign agreement aimed at containing Ugandan rebel group, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), active along common border. LRA wants to run Uganda along lines of biblical Ten Commandments.
Led by "prophet" Joseph Kony they have kidnapped thousands of children and displaced many civilians.
2002 October - Army evacuates more than 400,000 civilians caught up in fight against LRA which continues its brutal attacks on villages.
2002 December - Peace deal signed with Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) rebels after more than five years of negotiations.
2003 May - Uganda pulls out last of its troops from eastern DR Congo. Tens of thousands of DR Congo civilians seek asylum in Uganda.
2003 August - Former dictator Idi Amin dies in hospital in Saudi Arabia.
2004 February - LRA rebels slaughter more than 200 people at a camp for displaced people in the north.
2004 December - Government and LRA rebels hold their first face-to-face talks, but there is no breakthrough in ending the insurgency.
2005 April - Uganda rejects accusations made by DR Congo at the International Court in The Hague. DR Congo says Uganda invaded its territory in 1999, killing citizens and looting.
Multi-party politics
2005 July - Parliament approves a constitutional amendment which scraps presidential term limits.
Voters in a referendum overwhelmingly back a return to multi-party politics.
2005 October - International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for five LRA commanders, including LRA leader Joseph Kony.
2005 November - Main opposition leader Kizza Besigye is imprisoned shortly after returning from exile. He is charged in a military court with terrorism and illegal possession of firearms. He is released on bail in January 2006.
2005 December - International Court in The Hague rules that Uganda must compensate DR Congo for rights abuses and the plundering of resources in the five years leading to 2003.
2006 February - President Museveni wins multi-party elections, taking 59% of the vote against the 37% share of his rival, Kizza Besigye.
2006 July - Peace talks between the government and the LRA begin in southern Sudan.
2006 26 August - The government and the LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their long-running conflict. A ceasefire comes into force on 29 August. Subsequent peace talks are marred by regular walk-outs.
2006 November - Government rejects a United Nations report accusing the army of using indiscriminate and excessive force in its campaign to disarm tribal warriors in the lawless northeastern region of Karamoja.
Somalia role
2007 March - Ugandan peacekeepers deploy in Somalia as part of an African Union mission to help stabilise the country.
The UN World Food Programme says it will have to halve food handouts to more than 1 million people displaced by war in the north.
2007 April - Protests over a prized rain forest explode into racial violence in Kampala, forcing police to protect Asian businesses and a Hindu temple. An Asian man and two other people are killed.
2007 July - Lord's Resistance Army says lack of funds for foreign travel and to reach commanders in remote hideouts will delay peace talks.
2007 August - Uganda and DRCongo agree to try defuse a border dispute.
2007 September - State of emergency imposed after severe floods cause widespread devastation.
2008 February - Government and the Lord's Resistance Army sign a permanent ceasefire at talks in Juba, Sudan.
2008 November - The leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, again fails to turn up for the signing of a peace agreement. Ugandan, South Sudanese and DR Congo armies launch offensive against LRA bases.
2009 January - Lord's Resistance Army appeals for ceasefire in face of continuing offensive by regional countries.
The UK oil explorer Heritage Oil says it has made a major oil find in Uganda.
2009 March - Ugandan army begins to withdraw from DR Congo, where it had pursued Lord's Resistance Army rebels.
2009 September - Rioting erupts in Kampala over a planned visit by ruler of traditional Buganda kingdom to visit an area trying to break away from his rule.
2009 October - Somali Islamists threaten to target Uganda and Burundi after action by African peacekeepers in Somalia kills several civilians.
2009 November - Rights activists condemn proposed anti-homosexuality Bill, which would prescribe execution for some gay people. The bill is condemned by the European Union and the United States.
2009 December - Parliament votes to ban female circumcision. Anyone convicted of the practice will face 10 years in jail or a life sentence if a victim dies.
2010 January - President Museveni distances himself from the anti-homosexuality Bill, saying the ruling party MP who proposed the bill did so as an individual.
The Ugandan army says it killed Bok Abudema, a senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army militant group, in the Central African Republic.
2010 February - Heritage Oil sells its assets in Uganda to the UK firm Tullow Oil after Italian energy company Eni dropped out of the bidding.
2010 March - Uganda's main opposition party has accused President Museveni of preparing his son Lt Col Kainerugaba Muhoozi to succeed him. Mr Muhoozi commands a special forces unit and has now been given control of the elite presidential guard.
A fire caused by an arsonist destroys historic burial site of four rulers of traditional Buganda kingdom, sparking riots. The tombs are a UN world heritage site.
2010 June - Public prosecutor opens corruption investigation against Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya, Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa and several other ministers and officials over the alleged theft of $25m.
Troops step up border security following apparent resurgence in DR Congo of ADF-NALU rebels striving for an Islamic state in Uganda.
2010 June-August - Operation Rwenzori against Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels prompts 90,000 to flee in North Kivu province of neighbouring DR Congo.
Blasts
2010 July - Two bomb attacks on people watching World Cup final at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala kill at least 74 people. The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab says it was behind the blasts.
2010 August - National Resistance Movement primary elections for parliamentary and local candidates suspended amid irregularities, violence.
2010 October - UN report into killing of Hutus in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 says they may constitute "crimes of genocide". It implicates Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Angola.
2010 October - Constitutional Court quashes treason charges against opposition leader Kizza Besigye.
Outcry as The Rolling Stone newspaper publishes names and pictures of men identified as gay. Homosexuality is illegal.
2010 December - Security tightened after a grenade explosion kills three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi, Kenya.
2011 January - Leading gay rights activist David Kato is murdered.
2011 February - Museveni wins his fourth presidential election. Challenger Kizza Besigye alleges vote-rigging and dismisses the result as a sham.
2011 April - Kizza Besigye arrested several times over ''walk-to-work'' protests against rising prices.
2011 July - US deploys 100 special forces personnel to help Uganda combat LRA rebels.
2011 September - Court orders release of LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo, saying he should be given the amnesty on offer from the government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14112446
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