RIGHTS-UGANDA: Child Abductions by Rebels Resurface

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Katy Salmon

NAIROBI, Mar 28 2003 (IPS) - Child abductions by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda have surged in recent months, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). In the last ten months, some 5,000 Ugandan children have been abducted – more than in any other year of the 16-year old conflict.

"The increase in abductions is dramatic and alarming," says Jo Becker of the Children’s Rights Division of HRW.

In 2001, less than 100 children were abducted.

Under the threat of beating, torture, or even death, the rebels force the children to become porters, domestics and soldiers. Girls are sexually enslaved as "wives" to LRA commanders, and subjected to rape, unwanted pregnancies, and the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Tony Tate, one of the authors of the report, entitled ‘Stolen Children: Abduction and Recruitment in Northern Uganda’, tells the story of one 15-year-old boy he interviewed in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu. The child had recently escaped from the LRA.

"At the time he was taken by the LRA, he was in his home in the evening sleeping. He was taken out of his home. The rest of the family was ordered inside the hut and the home was then burned by the LRA. And he knows that his mother and his siblings were burnt alive inside the house," Tate recalls.

"He spoke at length about the horrific treatment he had at the hands of the LRA, including being beaten and tortured and forced to kill other children who had tried to escape.

"He’s desperate now. He has nowhere to go. He has no family. He’s an orphan and was very, very depressed, not only about what he had lived through but of course about what his future is going to be," he says.

Another 13-year-old escapee describes how his brothers were murdered.

"Early on, when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well," he says.

"So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until the two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old," he says.

The Ugandan government has also come under fire for recruiting children. Human Rights Watch documented the recruitment of children as young as 12 into Local Defence Units, known as home guard, who sometimes fight with the rebel army.

Boys who manage to escape from LRA captivity, particularly those with combat experience, are also pressured to join the Ugandan army while in their custody for debriefing.

Children in northern Uganda are now living in fear.

Every night, thousands stream into Gulu and other northern Ugandan towns where they sleep on verandas, in bus parks, on church grounds, and at local hospitals, hoping that this will save them from abduction. In the mornings, they return home.

They have been nicknamed "night commuters".

The upsurge in abductions is related to the Ugandan army’s efforts to defeat the rebels militarily. Last March, it launched ‘Operation Iron Fist’, crossing over into southern Sudan to destroy the rebel bases there. This forced the rebels to move back into northern Uganda – and abductions and looting have become worse than ever before.

"One of the reasons given by the Ugandan government at the start of ‘Operation Iron Fist’ was the rescue of abducted children.

In fact, they have been successful in capturing or rescuing some children but unfortunately, at the same time, you have had a massive increase in the number of children who are being abducted,” says Tate.

HRW estimate that between 2000 and 3000 children have been rescued in the last year.

The rights group is calling on the United Nations to negotiate for the release of the remaining children.

"We have made a strong recommendation to the United Nations to appoint a special envoy that would act as sort of a shuttle diplomacy between the Ugandan government and the LRA to try to negotiate for the release of these children," says Tate.

"We realise that this is a first step only, but it is an important first step for the children. And hopefully would gather some momentum around a lasting solution to the conflict in the north," he adds.

A broad group of Ugandan and international non-governmental organisations have endorsed the proposal, including Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council, and World Vision International who are all working in northern Uganda.

There have been fledgling efforts to start peace negotiations between the Ugandan government and the rebels since the LRA declared a cease-fire at the beginning of March.

But there has not been much success so far. On Monday, a Ugandan army officer who was sent to deliver a peace message to the LRA was killed.

The LRA have not appeared at sites designated by the government for the talks, and have violated their leader Joseph Kony’s ceasefire announcement by attacking and abducting civilians

However, religious leaders have in the past managed to negotiate with the rebels for the release of women and children.

"There is a precedent here for negotiations to work, although I will accept that it is going to be a difficult process," admits Tate.

"But if there is enough international pressure, and perhaps a high level person brought in to put some impetus behind negotiations, it could be a big bonus for the success of such negotiations," he says.

Some 20,000 Ugandan children are estimated to have been abducted since the conflict began in 1986.

The LRA claim to be fighting to overthrow the government of President Yoweri Museveni and replace it with one based on the Ten Commandments of the Bible.

Museveni is coming under increasing pressure to abandon his efforts to find a military solution to the conflict and to negotiate peace.

But the difficulties experienced so far are only likely to strengthen the position of military hard-liners.

Local religious leaders are urging patience, saying 16 years of distrust cannot be overcome in just one month.