Dear Collegues,
We are glad to inform you that Isis-WICCE launched two research reports
on 23rd August 2001. Below is an abstracts about the reports.
"Women�s Experiences of
Armed Conflict Situations in Uganda: The case of Gulu District
1986-1999 "and "Medical Interventional Study of
War Affected Gulu District, Uganda" are essentially two
parts of the same report.
Part one recounts one of the longest civil conflicts in the
history of Uganda and examines its effects on individuals especially
women and girls, families and communities. The report notes that the
economy of the region has collapsed while marriage and family formation
patterns have been irreversibly altered. Rebels did not only
destroyed infrastructure but also tortured and abused members of the
community. The government soldiers were not clean either. They
systematically looted personal property and livestock. The report gives
disconcerting detail, mostly reported verbatim by women of their
abduction and rape, forced marriages and mutilation as well as
transformation into an effective murder machinery by the Kony rebel
commanders. The women who survived abduction by rebels reveal the cruelty
of government soldiers in livid tales of individual and gang rapes,
forced prostitution, unwanted pregnancies, harsh punishments and the life
of extreme deprivation in internally displaced people�s camps or so
called �protected villages�. The women and men�s tales of homosexual
rapes (Tek Gungu) by government troops are as disconcerting as their
stories of genital mutilation by Kony rebel child soldiers.
It is noteworthy that while the majority of men have failed to cope with
the war trauma and many taken to heavy drinking out of frustration, women
with the burden of trauma and fending for families have either
individually or in groups organised self-help activities to support their
families economically.
The major health problems
faced by the survivors include; untreated fevers, reproductive health
complications, STIs including HIV/AIDS, broken and severed limbs and a
host of other ailments. Psychosocial problems were the most
numerous.
Part Two:
The outcome of the findings of the earlier documentation necessitated
an intervention as a way of scientifically analysing the consequences of
war especially to women and girls. A team of specialists from African
Psycare Research Organisation (APRO), Association of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists of Uganda (AOGU) and Department of Orthopaedics - Makerere
University teamed-up in May 2001 with the district based counterparts in
Gulu to undertake a one month data collection, which led to the medical
intervention of emergency cases in the area of psychological,
gynaecological and surgical.
This part of the report details a plethora of war related physical,
mental and psychological malformations in just one of the over 30
Internally Displaced Peoples� Camps of Gulu (Awer camp), that were
serious to warrant specialised attention. The intervention was aimed at
providing lessons to enable medical rehabilitation of particularly women,
girls and coping with the physiological and psychiatric conditions
imposed by war.
Nearly everybody interviewed
has experienced at least one torture event. The commonly reported
physical torture experiences included; beating and kicking, forced hard
labour deprivation of food, water and medicine and tying Kandoya.
The government army
(NRA/UPDF) accounted for a quarter of all torture cases, and the rebel
army LRA (Kony) for 70%. Torture usually took place at home affecting
significantly more females than males. Psychiatric disorders diagnosed
included post-traumatic stress, depression, alcohol abuse, generalised
anxiety, panic anxiety, Agoraphobia, social phobia, somatoform, and
suicidal thoughts. In addition impaired function was reported in
work, family relationships and sexual function. 6% percent of the
respondents had homicidal thoughts while 23% of the respondents had
suicidal thoughts.
The gynaecological effects related to war ranged from vesico vaginal
fistulae (VVF), infertility, chronic pelvic pain, sexually transmitted
infections, vaginal tears and laxity. The study revealed that only a
quarter of the women had accessed a qualified health worker for their
problems. Sexual function was adversely affected, 22% had unstable or
broken marriages and 32% were not able to work.
70.4% of the camp residents were found suffering from
orthopaedic/surgical complaints especially recurrent and mechanical low
back pain, septic arthritis, congenitally deformed limbs especially in
the region of knee joint, soft tissue injuries such as cut wounds,
bruises, skin lacerations at various sites on the body especially the
limbs, face and trunk. Many of these injuries were a result of gunshots,
beatings and cuts by sharp objects such as knives and machetes. Other
surgery complaints included hernia, burn contractures, neglected or
poorly treated fractures, TB of the spine and chronic pus-discharging
sinuses from swollen limbs especially among children, were identified as
cases that needed immediate assistance.
The authors came to the conclusion that the war has practically
debilitated the whole population. People live in "protected"
Internally Displaced Peoples� camps where life is very difficult, health
is poor and diseases are rampant. Men folk are few and decreasing in
numbers. Women and children are overburdened with daily struggle to
survive. This has caused numerous physical, psychological and social
problems. The extreme conditions resulting from this war are compounded
by severe gynaecological and orthopaedic complications. 88% had
psychosocial problems.
The authors call on civil society in Uganda and the international
community to bring pressure on the warring factions to ensure the war
ends and hence pave the way for social, economic and medical
rehabilitation of the tortured survivors. Ugandans have no other
alternative but to forge for conflict resolution, peace building and
co-existence since, there is no winner in any form of conflict.
This report is a must read for NGOs, government planers, policy and
decision-makers, the UN, humanitarian organizations, women and men, and
all development workers as well as students undertaking peace studies. It
provides an insight into the nearly forgotten war in the inter-lacustrine
region of Africa where the population and particularly women have become
pawns in a sinister civil/international war game whose motive defies
common reason.
Copies are available in the Isis-WICCE resource centre at US$5 each and
will online by end of September.
