Victims of LRA conflict feel displaced in urban areas

By ISAAC KHISA
Published October 11, 2009

Michael Okot, 63, left Gulu disctrict for Kampala 20 years ago to seek refuge from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgence in Northern Uganda. After his entire family was abducted and killed, Okot decided to flee and married another wife, who unfortunately, died after a short while.

He decided to remarry, although he had already resorted to heavy drinking. At the moment, he says the bad memories of the death of his family keep haunting him.

Displaced children in Namokora IDP camp, Kitgum District, northern Uganda. Net Photo

The life of street children as well as old men and women in Kampala is however not different from Okot’s life. In a report released recently by the Refugee Law Project and the Human Rights and Peace Centre in Kampala, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) feel further displaced physically, emotionally, socially, economically, spiritually and psychologically, while in Kampala. Such an appalling condition is worsened by the government’s and humanitarian agencies’ failure to comprehensively address the plight of IDPs in urban areas.

Majority of the respondents were drawn from Kireka/Banda, Namuwongo and Naguru, all Kampala suburbs, mainly occupied by IPDs from Northern Uganda. Many of them attributed their coming to Kampala on the LRA conflict that rocked Northern Uganda for more than two decades. Yet, many of them feel the need to go back home.

Their escape to urban areas has not made their lives any better. They live in abject poverty, have limited access to safe water, education and are discriminated against by the surrounding communities.

“Each of the people interviewed felt that they are psychologically displaced. They are in their own world, the world of darkness,” noted Mr. Bernard Okot Kasozi, one of the researchers. He added that many of the victims are possessed by the spirits of those innocently killed, individual belief systems and memories of their participation in the killings or witnessing those who were killed.

“The majority of the victims lost relatives in the conflict and a large number had themselves has been the target of attacks and abductions, had witnessed the murder of loved ones and had at times forced to participate in the atrocities,” Mr. Okot said.

Alcoholism of both the children and the parents has taken its toll on them to help them forget their problems.

“When you talk to girls, they say boys are potential victims of rape and when you talk to boys, they regard girls as prostitutes,” Mr. Okot remarked. This has even made the old generations to lose hope in the young generation.

According to Pauline Wyrzkoski, Research and Advocacy Officer, the government and humanitarian organizations need to cater for all IDPs including those in urban areas to help better their lives. She said the government should be committed to a comprehensive reparation programme and resettlement package to the IDPs wishing to return home.

The leader of the Lord's Resistance Army is still at large although IDPs in urban areas have expressed their desire to go back home. They feel even further dispalced in the urban areas like Kampala

“The fact that they will be starting from the scratch if they return to areas in the north, provision must be made that allows return to be phased and that permits households to accommodate the differing needs and fears of adults, elders and children,” Ms Wyrzkoski said.

Dr Margaret Munghereza, a psychologist at Mulago Hospital in Kampala asserts that the victims’ culture is eroding at a faster rate as they continue living in urban areas.

“These peoples’ cultures in terms of identity, values, beliefs and identities are eroding and there’s need to revive them through serious education,” she said.

Dr Munhereza recognized the need to extend health services and counseling services to the war victims, to avert their continued suffering.

Related Posts