Janice Anderson - War Crimes and Atrocities

Until the Sudanese government can feel the pain, not the profit, of its policy of violence and dispossession, it is feared that there will be no incentive to end the killing. There is certainly a definite need for international prosecutions to deter ongoing atrocities in Darfur. With attacks still being reported in the Darfur region, the UN has now authorized 20,000 troops to replace an under-equipped force of 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. However, the Sudanese government, who has denied any part in the killings or any alliance with the Janjaweed, has refused to allow the peacekeepers into their country. This on-going persecution of the innocent population of Darfur will be a long and difficult problem to solve.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan capturing the media headlines, little attention has been given to the brutal atrocities that have been taking place in Uganda during the past 18 years. Uganda has always been thought of as one of the more successful African nations, and in most respects it is, but perhaps one of its greatest achievements is the fact that it has hidden its bloodthirsty war from the rest of the world for so long. The list of atrocities committed under the name of war is cannibalism, sex slavery, massacre, rape, torture and displacement.

The war in Uganda is a complex one that involves a brutal rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has abducted thousands of children and forced them to become either fighters or sex slaves. The rebels are led by Joseph Kony, whose group has become synonymous with torture, abductions and mass killings. The LRA’s war was with the Ugandan government or the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), whose undisciplined army has also committed crimes against civilians, the very people they are supposed to protect. As the war continues into its 19th year, an estimated 1.9 million Ugandans have been displaced and are still being ignored and unprotected from the abuses they receive at the hands of both the rebel and army forces.

The LRA operates in the north from bases in southern Sudan. It is led by a former Catholic altar boy by the name of Joseph Kony, who seems to believe that his role in life is to cleanse the Acholi people. His army demands that Uganda be ruled according to the Bibical Ten Commandments, and Kony himself uses biblical references to explain why it is necessary to kill his own people. He told one of his captives, ‘If the Acholi don’t support us, they must be finished’. Kony sees himself as a spirit medium and makes up his own rules. He is thought to have as many as 60 wives, as he and his senior commanders take the pick of the girls they abduct. He has created an aura of fear and mysticism that seems to ‘hypnotize’ his rebels into following his strict rules and rituals. One young fighter who escaped from the LRA told a representative of the Humans Rights Watch, ‘When you go to fight you make the sign of the cross first. If you fail to do this, you will be killed.’

The LRA has committed many serious abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming and killing of civilians, including many children. Many of the children and young adults were abducted for training as guerillas. Other children, mainly girls, were sold, traded or given as gifts to arms dealers in Sudan in exchange for weapons. The children were taken to a secret base where they were terrorized into virtual slavery either as guards, concubines or soldiers. They were beaten, raped and forced to march until they were exhausted, and many were compelled to participate in the killing of other children who had tried to escape. The LRA built up their numbers by the abduction of children, and in 1998 alone it is believed as many as 6,000 were taken and used as soldiers.

One young boy reported abuse at the hands of the LRA, when they falsely accused him of joining the government forces. They tied him down and told him not to cry or make any noise. Then a man sat on his chest while others held down his arms and legs. The boy pleaded with the rebels not to kill him, and as he cried one man picked up an axe and chopped off his left hand, then his right. After that he cut off his nose, his ears and his mouth with a knife. The young boy’s ear was sent in a letter warning people against joining the ADF.

Tens of thousands of teenagers who are not prepared to take the risk of being abducted, either sleep out in the bushes or walk into urban centres to sleep in the grounds of hospitals or in the shelter of shop doorways. There is fear, however, that so many children sleeping in one place might be an easy pickings for the rebels.

On 25 July, 2002, 48 people were hacked to death near the town of Kitgum, which is in the far north of Uganda. Elderly people were reportedly killed with machetes and spears while babies were flung against trees. Ugandans were shocked by the brutality of the attack when they read the headlines the next day.

The LRA have been linked with Sudan because they allegedly support the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which is the rebel movement fighting against the Sudan government. Although Sudan officials deny this liaison, in February 2003 they agreed to let troops from Uganda enter its territory to attack the LRA rebels. The Ugandan army, who had been after the LRA for 18 years, asked the rebels to surrender or be defeated. By early 2003 there was growing optimism that the years of fighting could soon be over. Members of the LRA declared a cease-fire and said they wanted to hold talks with Uganda’s president, Museveni. They agreed to stop all their ambushes, abductions and attacks, but this amnesty had little real effect. In June 2003, Joseph Kony told his fighters to destroy Catholic missions, kill priests and missionaries and brutally assault the nuns.

In March 2003, keen to distance itself from the accusations of supporting international terrorism, the Sudanese government agreed to assist in the fight against the LRA. Ugandan troops crossed into Sudan and launched large-scale raids against known LRA strongholds. An estimated 10,000 Ugandan troops were involved in the latest offensive, which became known as ‘Operation Iron Fist’.

At first the Ugandans claimed success over the LRA, but their ebullience was to be short-lived when the rebels mounted a series of new attacks. Hundreds of Sudanese civilians were killed as the LRA were pushed further north by the Ugandan army. Far from knocking out the LRA forces, Uganda’s ‘Iron Fist’ led to a new round of butchery and abductions.

Despite the gruesome results, the Ugandan government continued its operation, which – as Human Rights workers feared – has simply led to more bloodshed. The LRA attacked the Acholi-Pii and Maaji refugee camps, the Pabo IDP camp, and many villages and communities within the area. These attacks have resulted in the most horrific deaths, abductions and widespread displacement of civilians. In the attack on Acholi-Pii alone, it is believed that as many as 24,000 people were forced to leave the camp, and six teenage girls were taken away and never seen or heard of again.

Many of the abducted girls become pregnant and give birth to their baby while in captivity. This makes it much harder for them to escape as they fear for the life of their infant, and those who do manage to get away, usually bear lifelong scars. It is believed that as many as 50 per cent of the girls who are abducted have contracted HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and virtually 100 per cent have sexually transmitted infection as a result of sexual abuse.