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Today's Topics:
1. UPDF troops rap Women in Northern Uganda IDP camps (Matek Opoko)
2. Tracing the roots of the Acholi people?s suffering..by Yoweri
Museveni (Matek Opoko)
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 05:11:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matek Opoko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Ugnet] UPDF troops rap Women in Northern Uganda IDP camps
To: [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
'I Was Raped By Men Who Should Have Guarded Me'
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New Vision (Kampala)
INTERVIEW
June 27, 2005
Posted to the web June 27, 2005
Kampala
STELLA was awakened by heavy footsteps treading outside her
makeshift shack. She realised very soon she may breath her last.
It was about 11:00pm. The moon brightly shone over Pabbo
internally displaced people's camp, Gulu. Her heart missed several
beats, then begun pounding in her ears.
Stella prayed that God spares her children. In desperation, she
shook the child lying next to her. "Wake up," she whispered.
Unfortunately, the little girl woke up in a fright. She screamed.
On Stella's other side, the last born also begun crying.
The presence of her husband in the dingy hut was of no use. The
father of her five children was dead drunk. She was even more
terrified when he begun snoring loudly. She wanted to weep! But
realised that would be at her children's detriment.
Anguish seized her. She tried to calm herself, but could hardly
stop the violent shiver that shook her from head to toe. A heavy
sigh escaped her when the children stopped crying. Stella narrates...
"I thought oh, God has heard me again. The footsteps outside had
stopped, but in my frightened state, I didn't know which side they
had gone. I stuffed my breast in the baby's mouth to prevent any
further outbursts.
"As I leaned on the mud wattle wall, my heart sank when I heard
someone banging on the tin door," she narrates.
"Funguwa mulango (open the door)," a man shouted.
"Lubanga (God in Acholi)," I whispered, Lubanga! The door was made
of straightened and patched up tins of USA oil. It was weak, so
they easily kicked it open. All the children had woken up, but
their father continued snoring. I held my breast firmly in the
baby's mouth.
"They were flashing torches, so glimpses of light fell on them. I
recognised one of them, but I couldn't say for fear that they
could kill my whole family. He was a popular soldier in the camp.
"They were six men. They ordered me and my 10-year-old daughter to
go out.
"The moon was bright. Some were speaking Kiswahili with a
Kinyankole accent. I knew they were UPDF soldiers not rebels.
"My daughter tried to cry, but one of the soldiers kicked her and
she fell on the ground. I stood there, helpless. I wanted to help
my child, but I had to be cautious, any wrong move could get us
killed. Seeing they were soldiers, I knew what they wanted. I only
wished they could leave my little girl alone.
"They ordered us to begin moving. I tried to plead with them to
let my daughter go back and was slapped in the face. They accused
me of being a rebel collaborator. I was not surprised. Other women
said that is what they always said.
"We were told not to look behind as we moved away from the camp.
They ordered me to throw my baby in the bush. He was crying
incessantly. I refused. I told them to kill us quickly, if they
had plans of taking our lives.
"One man slapped my face again and grabbed the baby. My son cried
so loudly. I thought my ears would burst. He was thrown into the
shrubs. I pleaded with him in vain.
"After a distance, they ordered us to lie with our faces on the
ground. I felt rough hands groping under my dress. As they raped
me in turns, they were doing the same to my daughter. I could hear
her struggling but they covered her mouth. She stopped struggling
at some point. I think I also blacked out,"
Every woman and girl in Pabbo IDP camp braves herself for rape and
child sexual abuse respectively. Only, Stella says it strips off
all preparations, leaving you shattered. She narrates...
"I woke up with a start. There was dew on the grass. I moved my
legs and felt sore all over. Then the horror came back to me. The
pain was excruciating. But I remembered my children. My daughter
was lying nearby, she was groaning. When I tried to help her up,
she couldn't stand.
"I had to hurry before the whole camp woke up. I couldn't stand
the humiliation of what had happened. I carried my daughter to the
camp.
The pain was like I had been sliced between the legs, but I moved on.
I passed my baby and stopped to check if he was breathing. I think
he cried himself to sleep.
Relevant LinksEast Africa
Women and Gender
Refugees and Displacement
Uganda
Civil War and Communal Conflict
Arms and Military Affairs
Human Rights
"My daughter was bleeding profusely. For four days, she refused to
come out of the hut. I told my husband what happened. He went to
report to the barracks, but was beaten up severely.
"My bright girl has since dropped out of school, other children
laugh at her. The soldiers were not punished, they were just
transferred..." Stella says.
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 05:15:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matek Opoko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Ugnet] Tracing the roots of the Acholi people?s
suffering..by Yoweri Museveni
To: [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Tracing the roots of the Acholi people?s sufferingYoweri K.
MuseveniGULU
The suffering of our people in Acholi, in particular, as well as
part of the North-Central part of Uganda in general, has been
occasioned by six factors: colonial manipulation and distortions;
poor leadership; a weak state; bad national politics; the Afro-
Arab conflict in the Sudan; and lack of education leading to
mysticism.
When the British were colonizing Uganda, they used the method of
playing one group against another (divide and rule). Fearing the
strength of the Buganda they had expanded at the expense of
Bunyoro, in particular, as well as other parts of Uganda in
general, they started a new scheme of using parts of the North
against our people in Buganda. They, then, started peddling
certain myths and lies to play one group of our people against
another. For instance, the Baganda were very "clever" people.
They were not like other natives of Uganda. On the other hand, the
Northerners, the Acholis in particular, were "a martial race"
whose natural instincts were skewed towards war-like activities.
Those lies and distortions went to the heads of whatever
leadership was available at that time which, in turn, amplified
and spread them to the rest of the population.
Clear thinking leaders should never have countenanced such trash.
It should have been treated with disdain they deserved before it
led our people to all these sufferings: the 1966 coup by Obote
against the Constitution; Amin's 1971 coup and the hemorrhage that
went with it; the missed chance of 1979/1980; the massacres in
Luwero (the philosophy of "a good Muganda is a dead one"); and the
demonic madness of Kony, his collaborators and apologists.
Poor leadership
Juxtaposed side by side with the problem of colonial distortions
and manipulation is the problem of poor leadership in Acholi. Like
many other areas of Uganda, our Acholi people lacked leaders from
within the community to tell, in very clear language, the trouble
makers to go to hell.
Buganda, and other parts of Uganda, for a long time, had the same
problem: - nobody within the respective communities to tell off
the trouble-makers and parasites.
My personal experiences highlight this issue in two instances: the
onset of Idi Amin in 1971 and the problem of Obugabe (Kingship in
Ankole). Virtually all the citizens of North Ankole had been DP
supporters. They, therefore, jubilated when Obote was overthrown
by Amin.
Their simple but erroneous reasoning was as follows: "the enemy of
my enemy is my friend." I told off all my confused compatriots,
relatives, friends or previous collaborators. I could not support
an uneducated person to be the President of Uganda for any length
of time; moreover, a person that was known to be a killer. I never
aided or abetted Amin for even one day. In so doing I provided
uncompromising leadership against evil, against my very relatives,
friends and close collaborators.
More recently, there was the divisive issue of Obugabe (Kingship)
in Ankole. I made it very clear that either Omugabe was accepted
by all sections or we would allow no Mugabe. That type of
leadership has been lacking in Acholi, except for some few
individuals from this area.
How could leaders accept rape of children, murders, mutilations,
disfigurements, etc? By not condemning loudly the terrorists, many
Acholi leaders were encouraging the wrong-doers. In fact, they
would say: "let us kill civilians and Government would be blamed".
Indeed, it would happen - the Government would be condemned and
the killers would either be pampered or covered up. How many times
did we hear the statements like: "It is the Government killing
Acholis and blaming it on the rebels"?
Weak state
The third factor was a weak state, especially the phenomenon of a
one-dimensional national defence force. Modern Armies are, at
least, three-dimensional. A three-dimensional defence force covers
land, sea (lakes) and air - i.e. Army, Airforce and navy. Owing to
the turbulent history of Uganda, the building of a three
dimensional National Defence force was never achieved. It is only
recently that we are tackling this problem.
By 1986 we had a very dedicated land force (infantry mainly). It
was not, however, possible to quickly resolve the terrorism put
out by Kony, supported by certain external forces, only relying on
this force alone. That is why the struggle had to be protracted.
We are now, finally, solving that problem of a uni-dimensional
national defence force. That is how we have been able to break the
back of the terrorists.
We are continuing to build the three dimensions of our national
defence forces. I can assure Ugandans that, henceforth, it will
not be possible for any force to destabilise our democracy using
force.
We have the capacity to deal with them promptly unlike in the past
when we had to engage in this valiant but protracted campaign
against the terrorists. Those in the habit of threatening violence
had better restrain themselves.
The fact that UPDF has been able not only to cope with the Kony
group but to also suppress it, is a factor that should give
Ugandans peace of mind regarding their democratic future. We are
now going to focus more on corruption in relation to State funds,
contracts, fair adjudication and abuse of office.
Bad politics
The undoing of Uganda right from the days of colonialism was the
problem of bad politics. Bad politics means politics that is
devoid of principles that are designed to uplift the people of
Uganda out of their backwardness.
It is politics that is, instead, aimed at, using the Ugandan
people's lack of information to use them for personal interests to
access jobs or resources. It is politics without vision for
transformation. It is parasitic politics. The bad politics of
Uganda, in particular, has been characterized by two elements:
lack of belief in democratic solutions and sectarianism.
Why has Kony been killing people? If he wanted power, ever
since1989, when we expanded the NRC, we have been having
elections. Why couldn't he stand for any post? See how we are
resolving all outstanding issues: opening the political space,
regional tier, term limits for President, etc. We refer the issues
to the referenda, Parliament, etc. Why should there be violence?
Anybody who continues to believe or talk of violence, when there
are democratic options is an enemy of the people and a criminal.
The other element of bad politics is sectarianism, based on
tribes, religion, etc. This is why Obote did not act against Amin
even the British Governor-General gave him the evidence of all the
crimes he had committed. At that time 1962, there was still the
false groupism of the Northern Region vs the other regions of
Uganda. The consequences were very bitter for Uganda. "Whatever a
man sows is what he reaps." My stand on such issues is very clear.
In 1989, I dismissed my own brother, Saleh, from the Army for
drunkenness. Yet, very few people in Uganda could compare with
Saleh in contributing to our struggle.
He had, however, lost bearing. I had to act. I was, therefore,
happy to hear that Rwot Acana reprimanded the terrorists when he
met them near Palabek. That is part of the medicine.
Afro-Arab conflict
The Afro-Arab conflict in the Sudan is one of the greatest
indignities to the black people. Sudan should be a great Afro-Arab
bridge, where the heritages of the two different races are
accorded equal treatment. Instead, some elements in Sudan tried to
turn it into an Arab bridge-head into Black Africa - to convey
Arabism and enforced Islamisation into the heartland of Black
Africa.
The Black people there, our brothers, waged a protracted and
lonely struggle for their salvation ever since 1955. When we came
into Government in 1986, for some unknown reasons, the Sudanese
Arabs decided to attack us, without any provocation, on the 22nd
of August, 1986, at Bibia. Our Battalion 28 defeated this attack
decisively. However, the attackers, spurred on by Sudan fanned out
and spread the terror to the countryside.
The mistake by the Arabs of Sudan of interfering in our internal
affairs caused us to give strong support to the SPLA. As a
consequence, the SPLA took over 90% of Southern Sudan, a land area
that is three times the size of Uganda. Some other Governments in
Africa also extended material support to the SPLA off and on. The
SPLA has, eventually, signed a very good agreement with the Sudan
Government, thereby liberating the people of Southern Sudan.
The Sudanese Arabs, by supporting Lakwena and Kony, created a lot
of problems for us, but they also created a lot of problems for
themselves and a hope of freedom for our Black brothers in
Southern Sudan.
Having realized the futility and counter productiveness of their
support for Kony, the Sudanese Arabs, starting with 2002, agreed
to end support for Kony. Some clandestine support for Kony
continued until about one year ago.
Without Sudan supporting Lakwena, Kony, and others, there would
have been no terrorism in Northern Uganda, in West Nile, in the
Rwenzori region, etc. However, possibly, there would not have been
the liberation of Southern Sudan either. Should we conclude that
God works in mysterious ways?
Lack of Education
There seems to be a lot of superstition in Acholi that can be
manipulated by the crooks like Kony. This is an unfortunate result
of limited education. The Movement has introduced Universal
Education in the form of UPE. We have built Gulu University, etc.
We shall get rid of illiteracy. However, the Acholi leaders and
religious leaders must help us with the superstition.
The Movement and the UPDF have stood with you (the people of
Acholi) throughout this in addition to our previous stand against
Idi Amin, Milton Obote, etc. We support right, oppose wrong, unite
as many people as can be united to isolate the enemy to the
maximum. You all can see that our firm stand is, finally and
irreversibly, bringing peace.
We have a rehabilitation plan as soon as the scattered remnants
are accounted for.
*This is an edited version of a speech President Museveni gave at
a retreat for Acholi leaders at Paraa Lodge on June 26.
__________________________________________________
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