HELL ON EARTH

For years some 40,000 terrified children from the rural districts of the Acholi have been running miles every evening into the towns and away from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). There they have been sleeping on the streets, in entrances or at bus stations. The older children have tried to reduce the fear of the smaller ones by telling them stories or singing them songs. Children still have reason to be afraid and so they seek protection in the towns.

In recent weeks this fear has decreased somewhat because the LRA is now operating in the neighbouring South Sudan and Congo.

Peace for Uganda’s child soldiers – NOW!

Opio is only eight years old and still too small to climb up onto the saddle of a bicycle. But he can kill already. Opio was a child soldier in northern Uganda in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In the documentary film „Lost Children”, which has been awarded the German Film Prize, he recounts how he had to order other children to eat the brain of a soldier whom he had killed. „No, raw, not cooked!” he says with a bright laugh. He was able at last to run away – like Jennifer. She was eleven when she was raped and given a weapon. People she has killed pursue her in her dreams.

At least 13,000 children have been snatched in attacks by the LRA on Acholi villages or refugee camps since 2003 and drilled into child soldiers with extreme brutality. So the children are traumatised to a high degree. In order to make them lose all inhibitions they are often forced to watch their parents or siblings being tortured and killed. The LRA refers in a confused programme to the Ten Commandments. Its children must murder, plunder and burn „in the name of the Lord”. But they must also often serve their commanders as sex slaves. How many fighters the terror movement has today nobody knows. They have been fighting against the Ugandan government for 20 years. They have no more support among the people.

The displaced want to return

The Ugandan government has for a long time staked all on a military solution to the conflict with the LRA.

However it has acted ruthlessly against the civilians in the north of the country, particularly against the Acholi. 90 percent of the population there has been removed by the army. Their houses have been burnt down, so that the people have had to seek protection in one of 200 camps. There the 1.8 million refugees and displaced persons are supposed to be safe. Yet it is constantly happening that refugees are being robbed both by LRA fighters and regular Ugandan soldiers. Women and girls are being attacked and raped. In the camps the treatment is so bad and the conditions of hygiene so dreadful that some 1,000 people die every week. For this reason the displaced are demanding that they be allowed to return home. However the government is only prepared to move them into smaller camps, although they have for months declared that they have beaten the LRA. Among the displaced the fear is growing that they are not being allowed to return home because corrupt officers want to take over their land.

The causes of the war

The causes of the conflict in northern Uganda go right back to British colonial times. At that time the policy of „divide and rule” laid the foundation for the later differences between the ethnic communities in the north and south of a country which has so many different peoples. While the Acholi and other peoples in the north made up a large part of the army, members of the ethnic communities in the south had more influence in commerce and politics.

Following the Independence of Uganda in 1962 the governments continued this fatal policy, with the result that the tensions between north and south grew and there were bloody massacres. Under the dictator Idi Amin (1971-1979) up to 300,000 people in the opposition were murdered. In the 80s the Acholi rose against the south of the country because they felt themselves being increasingly disadvantaged. In the beginning the LRA enjoyed support among the people. Today as a result of the terror they are rejected by the majority of the Acholi and the neighbouring peoples. Nevertheless leading Ugandan politicians declare that the Acholi are supporters of the LRA, thus increasing the tension. Peace now! Also as a result of the initiative of the autonomous government of the South Sudan the government of Uganda has stated that it is now prepared to conduct peace talks.

To make sure that peace is achieved quickly the spokesmen of the civil rights movements in the north of the country call for the removal of the warrants for the arrest of leading LRA commanders by the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Even the Archbishop of Gulu, John Odama, has spoken out in favour of the LRA commanders coming to the peace talks without fear of arrest.

What is the GfbV doing?

„The involvement of the GfbV is most important, so only international pressure can bring us peace” said Archbishop Odama in May. He has been working for years to help the civilian population and has spent the night with children on the streets to draw the attention of the world to plight.

What we are doing: The GfbV held vigils in many German towns at Christmas 2005 to point to the desperate plight of the children in north Uganda. In a very well regarded interview in the „ARD Tagesthemen” (the daily news programme of the most important German TV station) the GfbV General Secretary, Tilman Zülch, called for a European peace initiative and more than 20,000 people joined in our postcard campaign to the Austrian President of the Council of EU Foreign Ministers.

We have showed the film „Lost Children” in many towns and contributed to the passing of a resolution in the German parliament to end the civil war. Now we shall request some 2,000 institutions, religious and secular organisations in the western countries to work like the GfbV for a speedy return of the displaced to their homes, for more humanitarian aid and more rehabilitation programmes for the traumatised child soldiers.

In addition the organisations based in Europe should press the EU to grant Uganda generous financial aid as soon as peace has been achieved. We shall also ask everyone to appeal to the Security Council to suspend the arrest warrants of the International Court of Justice to make sure that the peace process is not hampered.

THIS IS HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please send our postcard to the Finish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja. He is until the end of 2006 President of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers. Call on him to increase the pressure on Uganda so that peace is quickly achieved. Ask him also to press for the return home of the refuges. Please ask us for our free leaflet and the cards and distribute them (Tel. ++49 (0)551 49906-26). Please help us so that these children can sleep again without fear in their own homes!

The child soldiers of Uganda need our help.

Please support our human rights work with a donation so that the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) can continue its human rights work!

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Thank you! Society for Threatened Peoples: for human rights. Worldwide.