Repatriated ex-LRA rebels ask for Ugandans’ forgiveness

Former rebel fighters of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have asked the government and the local community in Acholi sub-region to forgive them for the crimes they committed, arguing that they did it against their will.

The ex-combatants note that they were forcefully abducted and taken into captivity before being turned into rebels to fight against the government in a war whose agenda, they knew little about. Doctor Acaye, a representative of LRA returnees who were recently repatriated to Uganda from the Central African Republic (CAR) said they decided to return home after realizing the war was insensible.

“…I ask for forgiveness from the people of Uganda and the government. We have been fighters for a long time, we were forcefully abducted and taken to captivity to do unimaginable things. But we saw that it was right for us to return to our parents…,” he said.

Acaye is among the 141 ex-LRA returnees who were repatriated by the ministry of Defence and handed to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Saturday for rehabilitation in Gulu city. The returnees included 35 males and one female, accompanied by 27 of their spouses and 78 children who were repatriated from the CAR between July and September this year.

They defected from the ever-elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony’s camp about six years ago and lived in the towns of Mboki and Zemio in the southeastern Central African Republic. Acaye says they defected on their own will, and have returned with no ill intentions, saying that they should be viewed as citizens of the country who were forcefully abducted.

“..We have returned with one heart, not two. We decided on our own to return to our country, Uganda because we were forcefully abducted, we ask the government to forgive us, and we want all Ugandans to look at us as their children who have returned home…,” added Acaye.

The returnees who had been undergoing rehabilitation at a transit camp in Migyera in Nakasongola district defected in 2014 from the LRA outfit and have since been staying in the Central African Republic. John Baptist Odama, Gulu Archdiocese archbishop who led a prayer for the returnees at the former SOS Children’s Village noted that as religious leaders, they hold nothing against the returnees and asked them to be free from their guilt.

Gulu LC V chairperson Christopher Opiyo Atekere, however, noted that special consideration should be given to the returnees to enable them to easily access their national IDs so that they are considered as Ugandan citizens. Atekere also asked the government to consider offering resettlement packages to the returnees to ease their reintegration into the community.

“We’re actually going to have problems assessing their national IDs of NIRA because of their backgrounds. So I request that a special consideration should be given to some of these returnees such that they get national IDs so that they are considered as citizens of this country. We also would like to request, the government can set some of these returnees who may not be able to trace their origin. They should be resettled like people of Bududa were resettled by actually buying for them five acres of land, putting up structures like 3-4 bedrooms for them so that we avoid other problems in future,” said Atekere. 

The state minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny lauded the returnees for denouncing rebellion and returning to their homes. Responding to the request for special consideration for national IDs, Kwiyucwiny said the ministry of Internal Affairs is already designing ways of ensuring persons without parents can be identified as Ugandans.

“Earlier on we were discussing already because government is going to do registration for identification soon and the issue of of these boys who have lost their ways because they were not accepted when societies came up. They could not be registered to get identification cards because nobody claimed or took responsibility to be their parents. And on the forms, there is space for parents, ministry of Internal Affairs has taken that seriously and we’ll design ways of ensuring that these people who are parentless should also be identified as Ugandans,” she said.

Brig. Gen Dr. Patrick Ocen, who represented the chairperson technical committee at the ministry of Veteran Affairs noted that the ex-LRA fighters will be issued certificates of amnesty next week.

The returnees were repatriated from the Central African Republic through the negotiation of two NGOs; PAX and APRu working on the defection of LRA in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. 

The organizations have pledged to support the returnees with school fees for their children, special meals, and medical treatment during their stay at the rehabilitation center in Gulu.