The War in Acholi and the Way Out

Santa Joyce LAKER
Founder, Ka In Kono? Gulu, Uganda

I want to give thanks to almighty god who has allowed us to come together here in London, for the purpose of sharing our various views on the problems and insurgency in Achoi.

After landing on the invitation to attend this KACOKKE MADIT here in London organised by the Acholi in the Diaspora, I got interested and read through the objectives for the meeting and found that the objectives were good for the unity of Acholi although this should have happened earlier. But every thing has its timing, I believe this is the right time.

The objectives of this meeting can give the opportunity for the Acholi to learn something about the war and chart ways of finding a lasting solution to the war in the spirit of Acholi as a people. My presentation is far from academic work but I shall try to present the situation as I have seen on the ground and as I have witnessed. I have also tried to obtain some facts from the District authorities who made a bit of research into the problems which will help to illustrate some of my points.

As a founder member of a women’s group called ‘~KA IN KONO WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION” (KIKWA) meaning (IF IT WERE YOU), I thought it wise to come with two Women who if will be given any chance will help giving testimony on the kind of suffering people are experiencing at home and more so by women and youths.

The topic I have chosen to share with you today is “THE WAR IN ACHOLI AND THE WAY OUT” This war we are talking about now, started way back in the 1970s but worsened from 1986 to date. Therefore, it looks as if it has been a war of just 11 years.

As the war raged on many atrocities have been committed:

-People are killed; Some well known massive killings were in Atyak, Palabek, Lukung etc. My own grand-mother was shattered by land mine in August, 1996. As I mentioned in my introduction, the two ladies may expand on some of these should any chance be given to them.

*Houses are burnt; You may see some of these on the screen here. But as a matter of confirmation I have about 10 video tapes that I may screen at your acceptance.

*Granaries (Food Stores) are destroyed.

*Animals are looted. activities are stalled.

*Schools are closed and the entire education retarded.

*Health units are not functional.

*Feeder road are impassable with the narrow bridges threatening to collapse. *Properties of various types are destroyed.

*Any kind of development are stalled.

*People have lost hope and confidence in themselves. The atrocities are numerous but these are just some of them. Therefore, fellow country men/women with these in mind just pause a bit and recall your home especially you who have lived outside Uganda/Acholi for this period of 11 years you may find a devastated place with not much left. Now let us ask ourselves these questions:

- Who am l as an Acholi ?
- What am l as an Acholi ?
- And where am I in the scene ?
- What am I doing about the Situation ?

There comes the impact of the war on the people and the land. These are what we have in Gulu Kitgum.
- People have lost human value and death has lost meaning. People are demoralised and dehumanised.
-Many people are maimed-like this woman here. You become disabled and life becomes a permanent misery.
-Level of illiteracy has gone up. Without education there will not be any future leaders. Without continued education, there will not be any replacement for future.

-Lack of confidence and trust among the people: There is no sense of direction in the people. The gap of disunity created by this war can never be recovered. False and fabricated accusations are traded thus causing disunity, quarrels and death amongst the people of all levels.
-People are sickly and emaciated. Lack of nutritious food or sometimes going without food. We all know the result especially on children. And we cannot forget the consequences of AIDS which is amongst us, in a situation like ours many will take the advantage of the war and use loots or money to lure young girls into sex or get in by force.

-Level of immorality has gone up. No respect among people and this to the best of my knowledge is a very unusual phenomenon in Acholi. Parents have lost hope in children and here I would also say in the olden days children in Acholi were not only pride to a family but also wealth. Today they are threats to the family and to Acholi at large.

-Infrastructures are mostly destroyed. The little that you people left behind especially in the rural areas are mostly destroyed. Health units, Community centres, government administrative centres, bore holes, schools are all in shatters.

-People are displaced and hungry without proper shelters. As I talk now, my primary concern is about the displaced centres where there are the problems of food, shelters, sanitation and medication. People did not harvest anything last season and there is little hope because of fear of land mine in the fields. So, no freedom of movement and famine is imminent.

Now that these problems are with us, the question again is. How can I as an Acholi help to stop this from continuing ? And what can I as an Acholi do to help the desperate ones? ~A friend in need is a friend indeed”.

To me fellow country men/women, I would suggest the following as ways out of these problems:

i) We must accept one another as Acholi and as Ugandan and unite for a common purpose as Acholi.

ii) We should strengthen unity and stop division on superficial grounds like party religion, tribe or clans. Our common interest is to achieve peace and development.

iii) We must speak with one voice. We must also look at ourselves as lost sheep and must all come back to our senses, both those who are within and without Acholi region. Your voices can carry a lot of weight if individually and collectively put together and sent to any forum especially back home.

iv) We should develop or draw common goal that will serve as a pivot for the development of Acholi as a people and Uganda as our country. Please, I beg you, let us not wait for somebody from some where to come and develop our land Acholi. I am not ashamed to mention that we have wasted a lot of time even at the so called our time. We never made any good use of our period. I am sorry to mention that we gave way for people to use us. Now other parts of Uganda are just well fed while we are retrogressing.

v) We should all put our heads together and initiate reconstruction programmes that will improve the economic power/status of the people in the region. Here I would like to say this, but I stand to be corrected that there are many of you here whose signatures are recognised world wide. And some of your status here when properly used can open any steel gates to many things. I just wonder why we cannot use these potentials to help our people and yet you find that we have done a lot for other people. Honestly speaking doesn’t charity begin from home? Let us not allow people to use us as their tools or as ladders to climb up and forget those they have used. I wish to appeal to all Acholi in good positions to leave your doors open for any Acholi to enter and welcome every Acholi who knocks at your door.

In this regards Acholi land is potentially rich so that any crops can grow. Each of you still has a place where you can go and keep animals and carry out both agricultural and industrial activities for economic prosperity. All of you out here have knowledge but you are not maximising the wisdom and skills to exploit the knowledge you have to the advantage of the people at home/grassroots. If your elite-knowledge were put to pragmatic use for the benefit of the people in the form of buildings, business, animal raring etc. then the youths and the Acholi at large might have thought of different methods of expressing their grievances to the government instead of a rebellion which is causing various suffering Acholi instead.

I also would like to site some areas that you can render assistance:

*Relief — Shelter; Consider providing roofing materials, The people can put up walls.

Food: People need nutritious food so that we can avoid malnutrition among the people especially in the so called protected villages.
Development: Consider initiating and establishing rural credit/financial schemes especially for the vulnerable groups like women and youth.

Initiate and establish vocational centres where even those who have not had opportunity for formal education to learn skills that can help them to generate household income on which to live.

I know you may want to know my opinion on solution to this war. Both military and political means should be used/employed. I say this because I am aware where methods of peace talk were used they were abused. For instance the elders who had offered themselves and were sanctioned by the government were killed. People who were granted free movements so as to gather their colleagues and come out ended up storming trading centres and looting whatever they could lay their hands on. This happened in Amuru, when the government removed their troops and left the areas to be used for mobilising their colleagues to come back home.

These examples which are not exhaustive have made it difficult for peace talk but if there is any means it would be the best. Here I would want to know from anybody here, who should be talked to and who should initiate the talk and where is it going to be and lastly, this talk would be based on what ?. To me these are all that can lead to peace talk and if we can break through this in this meeting, I believe this would be the end of the war peacefully without any harm. But as of now atrocities of various nature still continue to be committed in Acholi and on Acholi by Lord Resistance Army. The government is therefore to protect the people and their pr6perties and this can be done by military means since the people who come to commit these atrocities are armed. Before I end I would like to suggest that a body composed of various categories of people handle the issue of insecurity, economic welfare, development matters, social services and political issues in Acholi be formed. This should be composed of Government leaders, religious leaders, Opinion leaders, Youth, women etc to form a neutral body. Thank you for listening to me. I would welcome a few questions but remember that they would not be academic but ordinary. God bless you all. Thanks you once again.

STATISTICAL FIGURES

PROJECTED POPULATION 1996

NB People fear to mention the correct number of abductees in that they may be associated with their activities. Although the registration of rebel victims has not been exhaustive the figure of the atrocities in the areas above may just double.