wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Uganda: forgiveness for LRA rebels

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World Council of Churches - Feature

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>For immediate release - 05/11/2008 15:28:49

PEOPLE IN NORTHERN UGANDA ARE READY TO FORGIVE THE LRA REBELS

>By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

With its streets full of bicycle riders transporting luggage or passengers  alongside mini buses, Gulu in northern Uganda looks as peaceful as any  small African town. However, its inhabitants, who say now they want  nothing but peace, have to come to terms with the terrible crimes that  were committed here during 22 years of civil war.

Rev. Julius Peter Olugu, the priest of the Anglican Ongako parish, told  members of an international ecumenical delegation ( http://www.oikoumene.or g/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/ugandan-churches-concerne.html  ), who visited Gulu district from 29 to 31 October on behalf of the World  Council of Churches (WCC), about this recent past.

"You could not pass here. It was too dangerous to walk. They could kill  you," Olugu said, pointing out a spot on the road leading west. "If they  did not, they would abduct you. Other people's lips and limps were cut  off."

In Gulu and other parts of northern Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army  (LRA) rebels had waged a war with the alleged goal to replace President  Yoweri Museveni's government with one based on the biblical ten commandment s.

Since 1986, the LRA had abducted children and forcefully recruited them  into its ranks. Adults were killed, mutilated or kidnapped, women also  raped. As a consequence, nearly 2 million people fled into camps.

>Peace talks inspire hope

Aida Olwoch is one of them. The WCC delegation met her at Koch Ongako camp  near Gulu town.

Olwoch told the international visitors about the hardship the internally  displaced people in the camps have lived for 22 years: "We did not have  food. There were no proper schools for the children. There were no health  centre services."

But Olwoch also sees hope, thanks to a peace process that started in 2006:  "People can now walk about six to seven kilometres outside the camps."

The peace talks between the LRA and the government led to a truce in 2006  and a permanent ceasefire in 2008. The comprehensive peace agreement is  awaiting the signature of rebel leader Joseph Kony and President  Museveni.

Rev. Godfrey Loum, a youth worker in the Anglican diocese of northern  Uganda and a member of the district's religious leaders peace team, now  thinks that the movement of people is "very free," compared to the  situation before the peace negotiations.

He explained that in the past, people could hardly venture a few metres  from the camp because of the security situation.

The churches in the northern region are keen to see people re-build their  lives again. Priorities on their agenda are poverty eradication, ensuring  that children go back to school, and support for those who are traumatized.

>Better lives for children

"We have a programme on education, and that is our strongest emphasis. It  was clear to me the future in northern Uganda was very dark because the  children were not receiving education," the Anglican Bishop of northern  Uganda, Nelson Onono-Onweng, said in a meeting with the ecumenical  delegation.

The government is implementing a programme to put every child in school as  part of its Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for northern Uganda. This  plan seeks restore state activities, rebuild and empower the communities,  revitalize the economy and promote peace and reconciliation. However,  church leaders are concerned that many people may miss out in the  implementation of the programme.

Under the government scheme for Universal Primary School Education,  parents are in charge of books, meals and school uniforms, while the state  provides for tuition fees and some education materials like chalk, which  according to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama  many parents are unable to afford.

"Most of our people have had problems sending their children to the  secondary and tertiary [university] level," Odama added.

The archbishop heads the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, a  regional grouping of Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and traditional  leaders.

Apart from its negative impact on education, the church leaders said the  war had exacerbated poverty by confining the people into camps.

"The whole population in Acholi land was displaced into camps, where the  conditions where only enough for them to live from hand to mouth," said  Odama. While they would normally have been able to feed themselves and  their children, they had to rely on aid, he explained, a "dependency that  destroyed them psychologically, especially the parents."

>The challenge of reconciliation

According to Justice Peter Onega, the chairman of the Uganda Amnesty  Commission, nearly 23,000 former rebel fighters have returned to civilian  lives in northern Uganda since the parliament passed an amnesty act in  2000. Some have reported that, at the community level, the reception of  the amnesty act has not been uniform and that the government package to  the returnees has been causing tensions.

"It is seen as a reward for causing problems," said Betty Anyeko of the  Gulu NGO Forum, a grouping of non governmental organizations.

Although the communities are traumatized by the brutality they have faced  during the war, many say they are ready to forgive the LRA.

"They want peace talks rather than war. They want peace restored rather  than fighting," said Aida Alwoch of Koch Ongako camp, capturing the  wide-spread feeling.

Many refugees hope they can re-build their houses and live in them next  year, instead of returning to the camps every evening after the daily work  on their farms. But since the final peace agreement has not been signed,  many are still apprehensive.

>[901 words]

(*) Fredrick Nzwiliis a freelance journalist from Kenya. He is a correspond ent for Ecumenical News International (ENI) based in the country's  capital, Nairobi.

More information on Living Letters visit to Uganda:
http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits/uganda.html

>WCC member churches in Uganda:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4652

>### SIDEBAR ###

>Letters of love in Christ

"Living Letters" are small international ecumenical teams traveling to  locations around the world where Christians strive to overcome violence.  The team members, who are themselves involved in ecumenical activities and  peace building in their home countries, express the solidarity of the  World Council of Churches (WCC) fellowship, which comprises 349 churches  worldwide.

Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year throughout  the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (  http://overcomingviolence.org )in order to prepare for the International  Ecumenical Peace Convocation ( http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc )in  2011.

Members of the team that visited Uganda, 27 October to 2 November,  were: Rev. Keith Briant, National Council of Churches in Australia Mr George Hazou, Middle East Council of Churches, Jordan Ms Mbari Kioni, All Africa Conference of Churches, Kenya Ms Janejinda Pawadee, Christian Conference of Asia, Thailand Mr Timotheus Kamaboakai, World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associatio ns, Liberia / Switzerland
Semegnish Asfaw, WCC research associate for the Decade to Overcome  Violence, and the coordinator of the WCC Migration and Social Justice  project, Sydia Nduna, accompanied the delegation.

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy.  This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the  author.

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363  media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.