Mixed fortunes for civilians in northern conflict

Charles Opio had just been discharged from St. Mary’s Lacor missionary hospital on 26 October when IRIN met him at the offices of the Italian NGO, AVSI (Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale), in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu. Opio, 26, sat pensively, the bandages that covered his amputated arms soiled by dried blood. Stretching his right-hand stump to try and wipe his face, he slowly put the limb down because he could not reach his face. He tried to smile, but a searing pain brought tears welling into his eyes instead. "I know it is God who decided I should suffer this way," he told IRIN. "I have accepted it and have forgiven those who caused me to lose my hands. I am entirely dependant on relatives to help me all the time." A year after Opio was first interviewed by IRIN, the only help he said he had received was from AVSI, who were planning to fit artificial limbs on him. Still, he had to undergo surgery in the hospital again because the left limb had a bone protruding on it and the right hand needed to be shaped to fit into an artificial hand. Opio, whose story was published by IRIN in 2003 in the book, "When the sun sets...we start to worry" (page 23), was a cook at a primary school near Gulu when the Ugandan army arrested him on suspicion of being a collaborator for the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The soldiers reportedly tied his hands tightly behind his back and beat him until he was unconscious. When he was finally taken to the hospital, the doctors were forced to amputate his arms to save his life. After amputation, Opio had gone to live with an uncle in neighbouring Lira district. IRIN traced him after he had returned from Lira to Gulu, to undergo the second operation on his limbs. "My uncle has been trying to see if I could get any compensation, but so far he has not made any headway," he added. The Ugandan army spokesman in the region, Lt Paddy Ankunda, promised to follow-up the case, but was unsure whether anything could be done to the soldiers who tortured the young man. "I will follow-up the case, but this is a war situation where the army sometimes acts on information it receives about rebel collaborators," Ankunda told IRIN in Gulu. The father of an eight-year-old boy, Opio told IRIN during the interview at AVSI offices: "My spouse left me because I could not raise the dowry. She cannot come back because I have no hands. Which woman would live with a man like me - without hands?" For Yona Lanyero, 7, life has taken a turn for the better. Now in primary one at Kasubi School in Gulu town, Lanyero has grown from a scared little girl at a reception centre, when IRIN first interviewed her a year ago, to a bubbling child living with relatives on the outskirts of Gulu town. With a smile on her face, she runs to greet visitors and proudly explains that she has just come back from school. Her mother, Margaret Piloya, 22, a former 2nd Lt in the LRA - who bore Lanyero when she was 14 from a forced marriage to a senior rebel officer in the bush, Lt Col Bogey Taban - said Lanyero still talks about growing up in the harsh environment where the LRA waged war.

Lanyero and her mother, Piloya at their house in Gulu

"Sometimes, she says she fears she will be killed by the river or a gunship," Piloya told IRIN in Gulu on 26 October. "When she was young in the bush we used to cross rivers and once we were nearly killed by aerial bombardment." "Before I escaped from LRA captivity in April 2003, I saw women throw away their children into the river when we were attacked," she added. "Once we stayed in Palabek and the army gunships attacked us. We fled across a river with the children on our backs, which was not easy at all." Piloya, who was abducted at 12 when she was visiting a relative, was first made a helper to Taban. "I used to carry his gun and wash his clothes," she told IRIN. "But one day, he forced me into sex. I could not do anything because I was in captivity. "I am bitter because I was forced onto a whole man when I was so young - against my will," Piloya, who is now studying to become a tailor at a training centre run by a local NGO, the Gulu Support the Children's Organisation, said. Her second child, Fatuma Tereka, also conceived in captivity, has started going to a nearby nursery school. "I am resigned to my fate," Piloya added. "My mother died when I was away and now I have to raise the two children on my own. All I want is to give my children a good education, so they can be like my friends -who I left behind and are now well educated." The LRA has fought the Ugandan government in the northern region for 18 years. The conflict that has killed or maimed thousands of people and forced over 1.6 million out of their homes to seek shelter in camps. The rebels have targeted children throughout the war, many of whom are either forcibly recruited to fight in rebel ranks. The girls are often turned into sex slaves for rebel commanders. Relief agencies estimate that up to 20,000 children have been abducted across the region. The rebels, led by a former catechist, Joseph Kony, initially said they were fighting to topple Museveni's government and replace it with an administration based on the Biblical Ten Commandments. However, it has not been possible to get a clear understanding of what the group's aims are because it maintains little contact with the outside world While the conflict has raged for nearly two decades, there is a new glimmer of hope that it could end peacefully. A new mediation effort led by former Ugandan minister Betty Bigombe, got underway in November. The government has announced a ceasefire, while the rebels have said they are wiling to negotiate with the government. NOTE: IRIN has released a new edition of the book: "When the sun sets...we start to worry". A copy of the book can be found as a PDF file. Also see IRIN special report: UGANDA: Humanitarian crisis persists in northern region