A child's date with Joseph Kony By Jane Nandawula Okumu Nov 19 - 25, 2003 http://www.monitor.co.ug/socpol/socpol1.php Andrew Akera, 13, wants to be a pilot. He wants to travel the world over and 'shake off' the past. Akera spent two years in the Lord's Resistance Army. Other children like him have spent more than five years in captivity. Akera met Joseph Kony, the rebel leader, and actually got to talk with his sons. Many times during his captivity, he was hungry and thirsty. He was often tasked to carry guns. But Akera maintains a smile as he ponders the future. When he becomes a pilot, he says, the sky will be the limit, both literally and metaphorically speaking. Before abduction For two years before his abduction, Akera was living with his beloved uncle James Obote, in Lacekocot camp for Internally Displaced People in Pader district. His father Patrick Ojok and mother Betty Akello are dead. Akera had seven siblings all living with his uncle James. He was studying at Lacekocot Primary School in Primary Six. His uncle, Obote, used to grow sim-sim on a piece of land neighbouring the camp but their main source of food was the supplements provided by humanitarian agencies. Each school day Akera, together with his siblings, would bathe from one basin before they rushed off to school. The water was just enough to wash their legs. They would wash the whole body after a day or two. In spite of such hardships, life was generally bearable for Akera. The abduction It was early morning one day in June 2001, when his uncle rode to a trading centre to sell sim-sim and buy clothes for the children. Akera and his siblings were busy washing their legs, readying for school. Suddenly, the children started scattering in all directions without a word. "I didn't run because I didn't understand why they were running. I thought they were probably playing," Akera said. Then he saw some 200 men and women hurrying towards him. One man in the group ordered him, "Come! If you run I will shoot you." Akera narrated, "I went to them in fear." The rebels spoke in Acholi as they abducted the children, and this was the language they used throughout his captivity. They tied his right leg along with the legs of nine other boys on a rope. The men among the rebels had weapons slung around their chests, some of them seemingly sophisticated. The women didn't have any. The group had more women than men. After their legs were tied, the rebels marched all the abductees out of the camp before setting it ablaze. Akera's siblings survived the attack; they fled at the sight of the armed group. As they walked into the bush, Akera was given to carry a 40-kg-bag of maize flour. Sometimes the rebels told the abductees that they were all going to be 'Kony's escorts', while other times they said they were taking them 'home'. At around two p.m. the group reached a huge tree where the children were ordered to lower their loads. "I asked one rebel that 'is this the home you were telling us?' He said 'yes'. I was disappointed because the place had only a tree, no house," Akera narrated. The big women and men captured from the camp were then released. The rebels also untied the children's legs and placed the shackle around their waists. Suddenly, narrated Akera, there was shooting. "I don't know where the soldiers came from but they started shooting. The rebels pushed us to run in the bush until the UPDF stopped shooting," he said. The whole day was spent ducking or running. They stopped the following day at four p.m. at a place Akera couldn't identify, but only for two hours to cook and eat a local green vegetable called malakwang. "The rebel commander of the group ate fish, goat's meat and posho," Akera said. Then they continued on their journey. For a month, the rebels continued emerging from the bush, abducting more children and looting. "Finally, the rebels walked us to a mountain called Got Agorao for a month's military training. After the training, they gave a gun to each one of us and marched us for three weeks, day and night, to Southern Sudan." Kony speaks In Sudan, the rebels with the abducted children gathered at Nichitu camp. "We arrived in the morning and I saw many other children at this camp, each with a gun. After we all arrived, we were assembled into a church to pray. I don't remember what we prayed but a certain man called Reverend Abonga Papa read from the Bible," Akera said. The prayer was followed by brief introductions of three rebel soldiers: Lt. Col. Trigger Okello, Maj. Gen. Vincent Otti, and Tabuley. A man called 'doctor' introduced Kony as Ukhuma, an Arabic word meaning 'Big Man'. Kony then stood up. The three men who had introduced themselves first converged upon the 'Big Man' as if to shield him from harm, so the abductees could hardly see him. All that Akera saw was that Kony wore green army fatigues and white boots. His chair was white, huge and rocking. "Kony said, 'I thank you for coming to join me here'. He said we have to fight for the Acholi land. He also said that whoever tries to escape would be killed. He said that once in a while, we shall take our guns for prayer at the river," Akera narrated. He remembers that Kony spoke very softly in fluent Acholi for about two hours. The 'Big Man' ordered the abductees to pray and bathe everyday in order to keep away disease. Throughout Akera's stay in captivity he saw that Kony's hair was cropped short. He also wore a small wristwatch. An experience "Three times, Kony ordered my battalion to take the guns to a river. We would point the barrel a little deep into the water and pray. This happened shortly before crossing back into Uganda for battle," Akera said. At one time Akera came close to getting killed. He was accused of crossing to Uganda 'without orders'. "Somebody told me to cross with a certain group. I was surprised when I was recalled and heard the top commanders debating my life. They said I was escaping and therefore resolved I should be shot. I heard Kony say that I should instead be caned," he narrated. Then Akera saw a heap of sticks. They whipped him all over the body. Afterwards, he was dumped near a well in the bush. Early the following day, two boys brought him a hot cup of porridge. He was then forcefully marched back to Sudan. "You have to pretend you enjoy what the rebels are doing, otherwise you get killed" Akera said. When he was not at battle, Akera was a full time escort to "doctor', his two wives and three children. Like every abductee of no rank yet, Akera would work in the garden after every morning parade. He often talked with two of Kony' sons, Ali and Karim, both now aged 13. "The boys would talk to me. I wouldn't be the one to start a conversation. They would ask me to escort them for swimming. We would then walk to a river and swim with them. Ali and Karim never carried a gun. They did what they wanted and nobody bothered them," Akera said. Miraculous escape "We were in the bushes of Pader district when I escaped, early this year. We had spent a tedious night running away from UPDF and crossing a flooded River Pager. "Suddenly, I recognized that the place where we were was Goma, near my village of Lacekocot. We were walking in single file when I slipped away to a different path. The rebels were too used to me to imagine I would escape. They must have thought I just wanted to [answer nature's call]," Akera said. Prior to his escape, Akera and a group of about 100 rebels had crossed into Uganda in May 2003. They wandered wildly mainly within Lira and Apac districts for two months, burning houses, abducting children etc. "Kony came to Lango and held a meeting with us. Our group was called CPU. Kony said he was taking us back. We walked with him up to the Sudan border when the UPDF helicopter came. We started running. Even Kony ran," Akera said. Other children under rehabilitation at a World Vision Gulu Children Centre said that the LRA have a standing order that whenever the UPDF attacks, Kony always runs alone and nobody should run along with him or towards his direction. Akera does not remember why after the UPDF chase, Kony had to continue to the Sudan while CPU returned to Uganda. It was during that return that he escaped. After several hours of hiding in the bush, he saw an old man and ran to him. "This man took me to the UPDF at Lacekocot Trading centre where I thought I would be killed because Kony had told every one in the Sudan camp that UPDF and civilians kill all escapees. "However, UPDF didn't kill me. They told me they don't kill innocent people. Eventually I ended up at World Vision," Akera said. The future "It is difficult to forgive Kony but may be I will forgive him. Anyway, life here helps me forget the bad things in the bush," Akera said of the World Vision refuge. He is able to smile. His teeth are perfectly aligned. He is on the road to being a child again. World Vision is rehabilitating him and other former abductees through daily activities like group and individual counseling, music and drama. He receives medical treatment and food. The organisation is also tracing Akera' relatives with whom he hopes to be re-united after rehabilitation. "I am happy I don't have to carry a gun. Here I play football. I love riding a bicycle and I love the movies. I have soap to wash, and I get breakfast. In fact, I want to be a pilot to visit the entire world," Akera said. � 2003 The Monitor Publications |
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