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IRIN Web Special on the crisis in Northern Uganda
LRA Human Rights Abuses - Continued
Northern Uganda's children live under constant threat of abduction by the LRA.
Credit: Sven Torfinn (2002)
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Rehabilitation
It is in centres such as GUSCO and World Vision, both in Gulu, and KICHWA in Kitgum, that escaped abductees are rehabilitated.
But the rehabilitation of returning abductees is no easy task. As the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation has pointed out, those who manage to escape the LRA are "scarred for life", forever re-living their brutal treatment, with girls facing the additional burden of often being infected with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
Unhygienic conditions in the bush and lack of food mean many children arrive at the rehabilitation centres with severe skin infections, such as scabies, and suffering from malnutrition. "What we see initially is their bad eating habits. They feel the food is not enough even after three plate-fulls, a sign of deprivation in the bush. We also see restlessness at night. They can hardly sleep, and they wake up very early. Restlessness is a sign of their alertness and militaristic behaviour," Dora says.
"We had a group of child mothers who had very weak children. By 0300 hrs, they started to talk. They told us that in the bush, they had to wake up early and start walking.
For Dora, what is more worrying is that abductees are not returning as had been expected when the UPDF launched its offensive against the LRA in Sudan in March 2002. "Where is the big group that was in Sudan when Operation Iron Fist was starting? The majority of children in rehabilitation are those who were abducted less than a year ago," she says. "We still believe there are still many children in captivity."
From 0700 hrs, anxious parents, seeking their abducted children, visit the rehabilitation centres. Joe Lakony, a trainee social worker at GUSCO explains, "There are so many children who are abducted daily. Their parents are desperate, so they come to find out."
Goreti Oyiela, an acting manager of the World Vision rehabilitation centre, says former abductees receive treatment and are taken through steps aimed at helping them talk about their suffering.
"We try to develop rapport with them because the children don't trust anybody after what happens to them. Even at the centre they don't feel secure for the fist few days," she explains. "There are some things that children are unable to talk about initially. They need closer attention and individual counselling before they can open up and talk about being raped or being forced to kill," she adds.
Those who are too traumatised to talk are encouraged to draw pictures about the extent of the atrocities they were forced to commit while in the bush. "Pictures also help us to find out exactly what happened," Oyiela says.
After months of rehabilitation, the former child abductees are ready to return to their homes, but this can only happen after their communities and families are ready to forgive them and accept them back into the community. "Some parents refuse to take back their children because they fear revenge from community members because of the atrocities they may have been forced to commit against their own family members," Oyiela says.
However, what most of the children fear most when returning home is not rejection by their family, but the ever-present threat of re-abduction.
Army methods
Some civil society groups have called into question the counter-insurgency tactics employed by the UPDF, saying children are being caught in the crossfire. The use of helicopter gunships, for example, has been criticised for being too blunt a tool against such an elusive enemy.
"Gunships have no eyes to differentiate between a rebel and an abducted child. So killing is indiscriminate," one social worker told IRIN.
"If the government pursues rebels and the rebels decide to kill the children what is the purpose? Each time you go to rescue abducted children, you don't know if you are going to be part of the killing."
UPDF spokesman Shaban Bantariza says the army is faced with a dilemma when it comes to protecting children from the LRA, who often use them as 'human shields' when being pursued. "This is part of our dilemma. We try to rescue the children. But we end up killing some of them," Bantariza says.
"When you are fighting a rebel group that degenerates into a terrorist group, you are not fighting an army. You are forced to take the war to the people. Our intention is to, as much as possible, rescue those who have been abducted. You can't fight a frontal combat," Bantariza said.
Links:
Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers
Protection of civilians in armed conflict - children in war
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