Victims of LRA rebels in Uganda eke out living through hardships

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Gladys Akello, 65, struggles to support herself and her 15 grandchildren. The parents of her grandchildren were killed by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who operated in northern Uganda and South Sudan.

"LRA rebels killed two of my sons and three of my daughters when they attacked neighboring villages where they lived. I later collected them and brought them to my home. Fortunately, they did not attack this village where I live,” Akello told Anadolu Agency.

Some of the children attend government primary schools while others remain at home helping her in the garden because she cannot afford to buy books and school material, Akello said, adding that she now lives on selling a local brew called malwa.

- LRA notorious for killing civilians, abducting girls

The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, is notorious for killing and maiming civilians and abducting women and children to use as sex slaves and fighters.

The rebel group was founded in northern Uganda in the late 1980s and its main objective was to remove President Yoweri Museveni from power. It attacked villages and schools to recruit young people into the rebel group.

The international community was shocked when the rebels attacked the Aboke Girls School, managed by Catholic nuns, on Oct. 9, 1996, and abducted more than 139 girls.

Kony and his rebels were later overpowered in Uganda and fled to South Sudan from where they relocated to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

- 'I now live begging on the streets'

Akello is not alone. Thousands have suffered the same fate and are now struggling to survive.

Alice Awino, 40, told Anadolu Agency that she lost her father, sister, and two children to LRA’s violence and she is struggling to survive without getting support from the government.

She makes a living from working in people’s gardens.

Annet Nyacwo told Anadolu Agency that she was 14 when she was abducted from her parents' home and forced to marry a 40-year-old LRA fighter. "I now work in a stone quarry to get what I need to eat with my children."

Annet Apio, 39, became disabled when rebels tortured her in the Alero village in northern Uganda.

It was common for LRA rebels to accuse people of reporting the group's presence to government troops, she said, adding: "I now live begging on the streets of the Gulu city.”

Joyce Lawino 65, said her daughter Vento Neliyo was also tortured by the LRA.

“We have been deceived by the government on so many occasions about compensation. However, I haven't seen anything on the ground to date," she said.

- What is being done to help victims?

John Opoka, a local council chairperson in the Nwoya district of northern Uganda said: "Many LRA victims in northern Uganda are very poor and in need of support.

"The government should look at the modalities of speeding up the compensation process for the victims.”

Grace Freedom Kwiyuchiny, the minister of state for northern Uganda, recently told residents that "the government is committed to compensating all war victims in northern Uganda."

She said President Museveni has always assured them that they will be compensated for all that they lost.