"Kadiatu reported being abducted by the RUF at a very early age (possibly age 4) and remembers nothing of her biological family. Raised within the ranks of the RUF by a commander and his wife, the RUF had been the only family she had ever known:
I grew up with the RUF and all I knew was the RUF. . . . As a very young girl, I helped with domestic work. . . . Later on, I was recruited to go into combat and became very involved in fighting. I was about ten years old when I became part of the fighting forces. The RUF believed that once a girl had attained puberty and started having sex, she was physically mature enough to become a soldier. After I was raped, I was recruited into the forces.
....In the aftermath of conflict, with no family or community ties outside of the RUF, Kadiatu’s sense of insecurity remained and, in some ways, heightened. Highly conscious of the ongoing risk of sexual violence should she return to live with her RUF ‘family’, she felt she had no choice but to live on the streets of Freetown (pp. 334-35).
....Kadiatu was able to benefit from DDR, particularly education and skills training. However, according to the girls, not only did DDR programming neglect to specifically address the after-effects of the sexual violence they experienced, it in fact appeared to perpetuate the problem. Kadiatu’s experiences show that DDR camps can be perilous and insecure places for girls, where overcrowding and the weak application of the rule of law often expose girls to ongoing sexual violence and insecurity:
The [DDR] camp became chaotic and disorganized . . . there was no order. . . . The [camp]officers who were on night duty couldn’t control the boys [ex- combatants]. The boys were coming over to [the girls] and harassing us for sex. I never felt safe. The reality of sexual violence impelled Kadiatu to leave the DDR programme,even if the alternative meant living on the streets of Freetown.
In regards to the [Truth Commission] and the [Special Court], the three girls expressed their apprehension with both processes. In the case of the SLTRC, none of the girls felt that the commission would be beneficial or empowering to them personally, nor were they willing to testify at the proceedings:
Would I go to the TRC? No! It doesn’t mean anything to me and won’t benefit me. . . . I certainly wouldn’t provide a statement. I don’t want people to know I was with the rebels. (Maria)
.... In particular, the girls expressed great concern that they would be prosecuted by the [Court] as a result of their former affiliation with the RUF. Instead of the Court providing a sense of protection or empowerment, girls felt a sense of apprehension and fear:
I fear the Special Court. The DDR programmers took our pictures and put them in the computer and we were given a card. I’m fearful that the government will take all the names in the computer and say: ‘let’s get rid of them all’. I’m afraid that they will put us in prison..."
The article continues to describe the social, economic and community marginalization of the girls, viewed as impure, dirty and guilty. There is no discussion of culpability while in the RUF, but its an interesting piece on the limbo these girls are currently in.
Well, I will continue to think through these issues, but wanted to share this with you for now.
Kampala
Seven former commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who defected from Joseph Kony’s hideout in Garamba last year, yesterday escaped from a safe house in Kiwatule, a city suburb.
After breaking off from the UPDF guards, the ex-commanders led by Lt. Col. Opio Makasi walked to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) headquarters on Kitante Road to lodge complaints regarding their living conditions and stay in a safe house.
Col. Makasi was LRA’s director of operations before he handed himself over to the UN in October last year, after Kony executed his deputy, Vincent Otti, the same month.
The others commanders who escaped from the house were Capt. Sunday Otto, the former head of Kony’s security detail, Capt. Vincent Okema, Capt. Richard Odong Kau, Capt. Alex Ojok, Lt. George Okello and Lt. Sunday Kidega.
But acting Army and Defence spokesman, Capt. Chris Magezi denied the former rebels escaped or were living in a safe house.
“Makasi and others have been living in a house rented for them. They live very well. The thing with prominent LRA defectors is that they continue to live in close contact with us purely for their own security,” Capt. Magezi said.
“The other defectors like Sam Kolo, Banya, Onen Kamdulu, have been in the barracks. Whereas there is willingness from the community to welcome them, there are others who may harm them,” he added.
He said some of the complaints the group had “were administrative and they are going to be handled now that we know them.” But Capt. Otto said for seven months they have been kept in the safe house by the army.
“We are not allowed to touch the gate, we are not free, we cannot see our families, we cannot see outside the gate, is that Amnesty?” Capt. Otto, a beneficiary of the Amnesty complained on telephone minutes after the escape. “We are heading to Kitante to ask the office, why we are not free yet we have amnesty papers,” he added.
The former commanders reportedly took advantage of laxed security at the safe house to break loose from the guards at around 7.15a,.m. One of the guards saw them sneak through a back door and he alerted his commander, who threatened to shoot them.
Otto said they defied the commander who had called 10 other guards to force them on gunpoint into the house. When they reached a bus stop, the ex-rebels wanted to force their way into a taxi but the soldiers ordered the driver not take them.
He said as they approached Ntinda trading centre, a van was brought from CMI headquarters and it took them to their offices.
Otto claimed they have not been given financial packages like the defectors who came before them but Capt Magezi said the ex-rebels were paid.
Surrendering LRA commanders have been given a monthly stipend as they wait for integration into civilian life. Kolo and Banya, a spokesman and senior commander in LRA, each get Shs600,000, an equivalent of a monthly pay for a UPDF Major.
The ex-commanders were part of a group that escaped from the jungles of Garamba in the DR Congo on November 7, following a split between Kony and his deputy, Otti. Otto, Kau, Okema and Makasi had reportedly been identified for arrest by Kony.
Information about their imminent arrest leaked and they escaped from Kony’s hideout before they could be taken in. They handed themselves over to the UN force, Monuc, which facilitated their repatriation home on December 1 through Kinshasa.
