THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY CONFLICT
Transforming Historical Harms in Northern Uganda
Ocheng Tonny, to
give him his full name was born in 1995 in Awach sub county, Abim
District-Uganda. He attended his primary school studies in Abim District and
afterwards joined St. Mary’s Minor Seminary Nadiket for Ordinary level and
Advanced level certificate in Apostles of Jesus Seminary, both in Moroto
District. With that seminary background in place, he felt an inner desire for
missionary life and since then, he has been discerning his missionary vocation
with the Missionaries of Africa presently in Lavigerie House Jinja where he is
finalising his first stage in philosophy at the Queen of Apostles Philosophy
Centre Jinja. Hailing from Awach Sub-county which for long experienced
tragically the traumatising events of LRA invasion, he confesses that he has
been a victim of the LRA insurgency.
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For a better comprehension of Transforming Historical Harms
Framework please read the following two documents:
*****
Yago: Tonny welcome
to this interview for the site “Breathing Forgiveness. Conflict Transformation
in the Here and Now”. This interview deals with your remarkable work on
Transforming Historical Harms in Northern Uganda, done in the course Conflict
Transformation (Philosophical Center of Jinja, Uganda Martyrs University).
Tonny: Thanks a great
deal for having taken your time to conduct this interesting interview which
befits the life events I have lived to remember.
Yago: First of all
could you give us a brief introduction about the Lord Resistance Army? Its
origin and current situation?
Tonny: The Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in Northern Uganda that started way back as a
simple spiritual led movement called Holy Spirit Mobile Forces Movement
(HSMF) in 1987 has had far reaching and long term serving atrocious impacts that
cannot just be elaborated in a single piece of work. As a powerful movement
that grew wings and caused much harms for long, even up to date, it continues
existing especially in the Central African Republic though now with few
members. Being a victim of the same circumstance, the dangers I witnessed still
reign freshly in my life both in the bodily or physiological reactions and
cognitive aspects. It has had an impact of power wounding where I have
witnessed a lot of instances in which I felt inferior
because the instances of power over us that the LRA exhibited in violent
tortures have limited my potentiality and capacity for full actualisation and
that of my local community members as well.
Yago: Historical
harms are defined as the modern day negative impacts of historical trauma
transmitted across generations through legacy and aftermath (THH framework, p.3). Could you
share with us how “historical harms” applies to you and to your people in
Northern Uganda?
Tonny: That is a very
relevant question in as far as my case in point is concerned. I have had
and witnessed a wide range of the historical harms and I am still experiencing
both within me and in Northern Uganda in general. The first and most common and
excruciating is the high level of psychological impairments leading to insanity
among most people in Northern Uganda. It is very common to find that in most
communities in Northern Uganda including mine, in a single village over 90
children are mentally unstable and some cannot rightly make clear connections
with daily life and this is seen in the directly affected victims like some of
my village friends and even the indirectly affected ones like those whose
parents suffered overwhelming events of LRA attacks. In my case four of my
closed neighbours are currently having virtually insane youths whose narratives
are centred around the violent attacks and invasions of LRA, the deadly sound of
the gunshots that they experienced right from their childhood has affected
their internal capacity to make necessary connections to the extent that
currently, even the mere sound of a vehicle can incite them to make alarms that
the rebels have invaded a nearby village. This is an historical harm arising
from flash backs being experienced and these mentally affected people cannot be
left alone in my village, they are always accompanied by people who are upright
because any slight misunderstanding can make them to cause physical harm in
form of fights in the community.
Yago: Thanks for your
sharing Tonny. Can we say that there are still inter-tribal conflicts in
Northern Uganda as a result of the Historical Trauma produced by the LRA
conflict?
Tonny: I would
rightly and courageously agree that, there is first of all a harm of continuous
inter-tribal conflicts especially among the Acholi, the Itesots and the
Karimojongs. Consequently, it is causing divisions of all sorts with evidences
advancing even to land border conflicts and waylaying each other on a journey.
This is leading to continuous insecurity in the northern region. This is
because during the insurgency, the rebels destroyed peoples’ lives and caused
wanton destruction of property of the neighbouring tribes like the Itesots and
Karimojongs, meanwhile the Karimojongs in turn took advantage of the conflict
to raid and loot the cattle of the Itesots as they too had so many guns for
defence against the rebels. During the disarmament in karamojong region, guns
were taken away and they became powerless, the Itesots started creating hatred
for the Karimojongs and the Acholi for all those violence inflicted on them.
Since also the Acholi considered Itesots as inferior and the Karimojongs also
regarded Itesots as weak, mistrust emerged among the Itesots and has continued
up to now, so this is accountable for the current prevalence of insecurity
along borders of these tribes. This is a serious historical harm.
Yago: Could you also
show the existing condition especially about the current economic disparities?
Tonny: Indeed, there
exist economic disparities between the Acholi and the other Bantu speakers in
Central and Western Uganda. Currently the level of access to wealth for home
ownership and entrepreneurial activities is low and very rare for northerners
yet the southerners are getting more access to it since they have no much
impact of the rebel activities. This is because for the northerners the rebels
ravaged them so much that they could not get any moment to engage in productive
economic activities. So in this case as the Transforming Historical Harms manual stipulates that economically harmed past
generations of certain groups can lead to difference in economic activities (THH manual, current indicators of
historical harm, p.54), it is very applicable and clear to the Acholi case
in which they have been harmed by the insurgency that they cannot have any
portion of generational wealth as compared to the southerners who since the
onset of the war, have been in charge of economic activities and so they are
the ones having generational wealth.
Yago: Thanks for that
much so far! How can you describe the current political disparities?
Tonny: I wish to
openly emphasise that there is a political disparity existing in Uganda. This
is especially in the struggle between the northern tribes and the other Bantu
tribes. As the LRA disorganised the Acholi and north in general, they could not
participate in politics of the country and so up to now, they have not got any
chance and they feel that they have no say in the affairs of the nation any
more. Even in the post war situations, presidential candidates like Olara
Otunnu and Norbert Mao who hailed from the north have not been considered by
the Bantu speakers as appropriate and so they have lost seriously most probably
on the ground that they cannot decide equally for the country since their minds
have been affected by the violence.
Yago: Tonny, could
you identify some other Historical Harms that you find existing in Northern
Uganda?
Tonny: Well there
are so many historical harms that I am very sure that we cannot even exhaust at
this moment. Never the less I can just expose those that are vividly seen.
Among the many historical harms present, mistrust and cohesion among the Acholi
and other tribes is worth mentioning. In practice; the Acholi are considered by
other tribes as hostile, rebellious and generally warlike. There is no
engagement with them in social settings and currently it is rare to find an
Acholi working peacefully and in harmony with the Bantu speakers for a long
period. In instances where they work in the same place, there is no trust and
no sharing of secrecy. Even back at home among my community members, it is at
times common to find that we do not fully trust each other for example we
cannot share our deep secrets with community members as it used to be in the
past. This is because with the influence of war, we became suspicious of each
other that sharing secrets was like telling a potential rebel all about
yourself as they would turn against you. This has remained in my society and manifests itself as historical harm.
Yago: Could you
enumerate for us the different actors affected currently by this conflict?
Tonny: There are so
many groups or actors that are being affected by the above historical harms.
Primordially, the Acholi are the ones who are greatly being
affected by those harms. In Acholi land, the number of handicapped people is
very high. They are complete dependants as some do not have legs, nose, and
mouths and hears. The mentally handicapped always have flash backs and nasty
experiences. The effects are still seen
in the excruciatingly low levels of educations and so high illiteracy rate as
school activities were interrupted for long. At the relational level with the
neighbours, the Acholi are affected in a way that they are not trusted by the
majority of Ugandans.
 |
| Joseph Kony, leader of LRA |
The Lord’s Resistance Army who are perpetrators are being
affected today much as they took themselves to be immune to violence. Most of
them are reported to be ageing and getting weaker so they desire to come back
but they are afraid of coming back since psychologically they feel guilty for
the harms caused and yet also the Acholi traditional ways of welcoming a
perpetrator of violence is so painful in what is commonly known as ‘matoput’,
where the perpetrator is given bitter herbs to drink with a big calabash that
is normally very difficult. Among the ex-rebels who have managed to come back
home, they are psychologically unstable and cannot settle fully in the
community. Even those in the bush now, are experiencing participation induced
trauma as their acts towards others make them feel guilty. This is how they are
being affected.
Yago: Would it be
right to say that the Ugandan Government has been also affected in one way or
another by this insurgency in question?
 |
| Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda |
Tonny: Yes, the
government of Uganda has been and is still being affected by the harms. First
of all the image of the incumbent government officials has been tarnished like
for president-Museveni who has been considered segregative and inefficient,
incompetent president due to impacts of the war in Northern Uganda.
Financially, the government is spending a lot of money to combat the post war
negative impacts on the livelihood of the people in the north for example the Northern
Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) has been the initiative of the government.
However, dishonest people who have been employed in distributing this fund to
the affected people have frustrated government efforts by corrupting a huge sum
of it. This is making the government to even suffer more in form of criticisms
from other countries. The government is still affected in a way that they have
been compelled to recruit so many soldiers and to deploy them in the north and
this has a strain on the national budget.
Yago: Let us move now
to Historical Trauma. Amy Potter Czajkowski says that historical
trauma is conceived to be an event or complex set of events that have had
negative impacts on a significant segment of the society. Could you share with
us how historical trauma applies to you?
 |
| Tonny's village: Awach, Abim District |
Tonny: let me answer
that question by comprehensively dealing with some of the touching events that
in turn will suit the needs of the above question. There are cumulative events
that I personally experienced that up to now remain reminders of trauma or
technically traumagenic for me. In my village and the neighbouring districts, I
witnessed the painful event of the 2004 LRA invasion into my village at 2 am in
the night when everyone was deeply asleep and suddenly some people saw huts
burning, granaries and in the same event, over 100 people were killed and 200
and above were abducted and the worst experience for me in this particular
event, was the untimely abduction of my best friend Jimmy. Still in this event,
as I was running in escape from the rebels, I knocked a big trunk of tree and I
fell down. This caused a big injury on my leg that has had impacts on me till
now on my left leg. The experience of spending sleepless cold nights in the
bush coupled with tragic gunshots and inhuman killings of my close relatives
have all had menacing impacts on my relational life especially when I remember
how they were killed, I tend to be aloof thinking about it and this separates
me from the public sometimes.
Another extremely mournful historical trauma I consider in LRA
was the event in which in a place called Pajule, few Kilometres away from my
home village, 400 people were cooked in big drums of boiling cooking oil and
were cooked like normal food. Some of the abducted people were forced to eat
their bodies. This event has remained a trauma that affects the society around
there (cultural trauma) whose emotional and psychological
injury remains a disturbing trauma reawakening instances (traumagenic) event
that the whole Acholi society and neighbours consider as the most inhuman form
of acts they faced in their community. Those who witnessed have vowed never to
forgive or forget Kony and the LRA in general.
Yago: Horrible
indeed! Thanks Tonny for your openness to share with us these terrible events.
Now let us move to the legacy in this conflict. Again Amy Potter Czajkowski defines legacy as the
collection of beliefs, ideas, myths, prejudices, biases and behaviors that are
disseminated and then inherited by and/or about differing groups. Could you
share with us how this applies to this conflict?
Tonny: At the level of
legacy I can say that beliefs, ideas, myths, prejudice and biases are inherited
for example by the Acholi and other differing groups. In this case the biases
that other tribes have had on the Acholi as only being aggressive and murderers
since LRA days has been inherited by young generation from those tribes to the
extent that even those who have never had any physical contact with any Acholi,
conclude that the Acholi are always aggressive and even on meeting them, they
still impatiently conclude that they are murderers. These biases have made have
the Acholi to face difficulties in acquiring quality education, descent jobs as
they are considered aggressive, they are only given security posts and this has
lowered the level of acquiring wealth among the Acholi.
The cultural narratives that have been passed on to the young
have increased the level of historical harms. In my case, my cultural leaders
have always narrated to me how my birth was very much affected by this war
especially how my mother had to escape with me in the womb for long distances,
how some powerful community members were executed by the LRA and other events,
these have influenced me to have prejudice against the Acholi and the langi who
actively participated as rebels in oppressing us. Among my community members,
narratives connected to these events have perpetrated more hatred and biases
for the Acholi in general. This is transmitting historical harm to the new born
people as they grow up knowing that the Acholi long ago oppressed their
parents. This causes more historical harm in terms of hatred and prejudice in
society.
Yago: Thanks again
for your witness. Now let us explore the aftermath,
this refers to the institutions, laws, political and economic structures
and the official narrative conveyed and enforced by a society’s supporting
systems (education, religion, social services, criminal justice, etc.) that
were formed to enforce or reinforce particular aspects of a legacy. How do you
see the aftermath in this conflict? How have you experienced it?
Tonny: In this case
some adjustments were made by the government to economically empower the
affected people in the north for example by securing some funds for
constructing roads, houses and compensations like that which was directed to
Acholi war debt claimants, and still some NGOs were sent to the north for
economic empowerments. In all these efforts of the aftermath, some positive
changes took place like some Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) put in place
projects for supporting the affected youths like WAR CHILD Holland that was in
my village and I too benefited from the scholastic materials that they supplied
to us. However, some political and
economic programs failed and instead transmitted the harms to others for
example the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) that the political
figures provided through parliament to distribute money for the Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps failed in effecting this aim. The management
of this fund who were still politicians and worse of all non-Acholi, instead of
distributing the resources provided by parliament to the people, corrupted much
of the fund thus leading to low level of development in the region and this
fact reminds the northerners of the long enmity that has existed between the
southerners and the northerners. This is still causing a lot of mistrust as a
historical harm being manifested today.
Yago: Could you tell
us the on-going traumas being transmitted through the legacy and the aftermath?
Tonny: From the side
of on-going traumas and from the lens of legacy, the history of this insurgency
has not been sufficiently availed to all the parties involved for example the
rebels consider themselves as real Christians and they maintain that they were
formed to defend the commandments of God, this historical perspective is not
widely known to the majority of the population in Uganda. At the level of
connecting, there has been separation for example the government keeps terming
the LRA as confused and are terrorists and at the same time Kony and his rebels
maintain that Museveni is a dictator and should not be trusted. There are a lot
of harms left and there is a lot of shame among the people whose nose, ears and
mouths have been cut by Kony, so their stress and hopelessness is continuing
rapturously leading to generational patterns today. There has been even the
inability to act in the post war Acholi land as everyone is vulnerable. The
rebels still continue to deny that they are not murderers and say that they are
not ready to pay for what has been done either by them or by other people. So
no serious action is being taken to collaborate to address the legacies of
stereotypes created between the government, the LRA and Acholi people. Even the
NGOs that came for actions have failed to establish avenues for actions and
they have been sent away due to their failures. These are continuous
manifestations of harms and are thereby blocks to the transformation.
On the side of aftermath, the on-going harms and potential
blocks at the level of history is still the insufficient information shared now
about the history related to LRA and instead a lot of information is being
channelled to the ICC, there is even segregation and conflicts in the
neighbourhood of the Acholi land that is to say the Itesots against the Acholi
and the karamojong. At the level of healing, the focus is now on the physically
handicapped who have been affected and the mentally affected and are not given
much attention, their issues are treated with silence as there are no many
trauma healing centres in the north. At the level of the inability, there is a
tendency of forming NGOs on the pretext that they will help to act on the
conditions in place, instead these bodies are taking advantage of the horrible
conditions to accumulate a lot of personal wealth as they take pictures of the
desperate people to lobby for huge funds yet there is nothing in the ground
being effectuated to transform the historical harms. These are some of the
on-going harms and potential blocks to transforming this conflict.
Yago: Now, let us
shift to the application of the Transforming Historical harms framework to the
LRA conflict. Let us start by the need of facing history. How do you see it?
Tonny: As I try to
apply the THH approach, I see the connection in attempting to transform the
historical harms above with the fact that it is very necessary to face history,
to know what happened to solve current problems and bring healing. In this case
an understanding of this LRA conflict entails identifying the root causes like
ethnic differences between the Nilotics and the Bantu speakers or power
imbalance or even the spiritual dimension of this conflict.
So as Sankofa says
that looking back helps to understand the future, I find it relevant in this
case in the fact that it helps me to acknowledge the root causes of the
conflict and when I incorporate many individuals in trying to transform the
conflict, we shall be able to uncover the history of the present harms, to also
identify some inaccuracies, myths and lies which have been spreading wrong
propaganda.
Yago: Another key
strategy is to promote all kind of initiatives that will make the parties to
connect. How do you envision it in this conflict?
Tonny: In making
connections, I agree with the view that it is important to connect one’s own
story or group’s story with history. Just as my community and I have been
affected by this conflict, as part of connection, I see the need to move beyond
the way traumatic events that led to the formation of LRA were like for me and
my community. In reality, I would consider coming together as northerners and
later with the southerners represented by Museveni and the LRA in peace talks
to acknowledge what happened in the past as history and to find common sense of
humanity among all the three parties as the manual suggests. This connection
will help to build a relationship of trust.
Yago: Healing wounds
is primordial in any process of conflict transformation. How do you envision it
happening in this conflict?
Tonny: From the lens
of healing wounds as remarked that unhealed trauma impacts on emotional,
cognitive, behavioural, physical and spiritual levels, these have been the same
things in this conflict as in the historical harms in Northern Uganda which are
all acting in both of the above levels. It is still possible from my view that
as we are experiencing on-going trauma reactions, we are likely to harm
ourselves and other innocent people especially if the cycle of this violence
begins to act out like if it is to start acting out in me, I can become an
aggressor causing harm to my neighbours. So I need the healing of my wounds and
of my community too and this can be done through intentional spaces like
initiating dialogue, reconciliatory processes and Acholi cultural rituals of peace
building and reconciliation called ‘Mato Oput.’ When these harms are recognised
by both parties and accepted in society, healing is enhanced and this can even
be mediated through the use of media where some wounded healers from Acholi are
given chance to talk to the public on how he left LRA and became healed of all
the traumas.
Yago: In the end
concrete action needs to be taken. How can this be done?
Tonny: From the view
of taking actions a stage where things are made right and justice is
established to acknowledge harms and change behaviour to avoid the continuation
of the harm, I see that conflict transformation practitioners in the North and
well-wishers should be able to consider this aspect in transforming the harms. After understanding the history and impact of
the historical trauma and identifying current manifestations of the harms, for
example I as a conflict transformation practitioner will consider facing
history and listening to myself and others who have been affected and I will
relate my hurts with theirs so as to take actions through participation with
some instrumental people like various leaders from NGOs, civil society leaders,
religious leaders and other stakeholders to build trust and see possible
barriers that can hamper working together. So in the end, the historical harms
like psychological problems, mistrust and economic disparities will gradually
be transformed when serious actions are taken.
Yago: The THH approach is value based and adopts values
used to define reconciliation like truth, justice, mercy and peace. How do you
see these values fuelling the reconciliation process?
Tonny: I see that this
transformative process will be influenced by those qualities so as to restore
Acholi, neighbouring communities, individuals so as to bring unity and
wholeness.
As truth establishes a correct account of the past, present and
builds trust, it is my task to face history and truly dig out from credible
sources some of the root causes of the harms and to seek healthier ways of
correcting them. In this way, the transformative process would have already
been successful if the truth in this true root causes, are considered as very
fundamental to the transformation.
Similarly with mercy which allows for empathy and gives ability
to see others as humans, the transformative process will also consider mercy as
making connections enables us to build authentic relationships in this I find
it possible in my attempt through listening to LRA, Acholi and the government.
Through this, we can develop the bond thereby reaching steps of acknowledgment
and forgiveness. As we reach a point of forgiveness, we are able to consider
all the parties as having the same essence as humans.
Justice too influences this process. As it is a commitment to
righting the wrongs of the past, I see that in this case, a commitment to
healing the wounds created by the LRA war brings justice. Making connections
allows for the creation of authentic right relationships which is an influence
of justice to avoid the past wrongs.
Values of peace and justice are evidenced in taking actions
which have already been discussed. As taking actions involves making things
right and acknowledging harm and change behaviours so that harm does not
continue, to me this is providing assurance for protection of dignity and rights
as stakeholders participate in effective actions the Acholi use matoput as a
ritual act to enable perpetrators to realise their wrongs and swear oath never
to continue with such acts, I will include this traditional aspect in my
attempt to transform the conflict.
Yago: Thanks Tonny!
Very enriching! We are moving towards the end of this interview. The THH approach applies the multifaceted tool of
narrative. How would you apply it in the transformation of this conflict?
Tonny: The following
are the ways in which I am going to apply the multifaceted tool of narrative.
As narrative for history helps to bring attention to the
previously untold and undervalued stories which offer alternative explanations
for current situations, I will apply the practices of taking and giving oral
histories which have been in my community about LRA and to avail them to the
public like narratives about LRA being a spiritually eternal sent spirit
movement. I will try to research on some of the under exposed narratives among
the Acholi who joined the rebel group. In my capacity as a student of conflict
transformation, I will write ad perform plays with my age mates at home.
Through these, I see that I will be able to empower the illiterate population
in my village to participate through those plays in defining their own lives,
to allow them establish some norms and new values as they learn from the plays.
Under narratives for connection, I will try to create a network
of connection among people who have experienced trauma differently. As I was
traumatised by these events, I will try to engage in self reflection to think
about my narratives, my present harms to share with others. I will try to reach
out to others who are still affected to try to listen actively to them so as to
understand and relate their experiences with my experiences. This will help us
to recognise our shared humanity in this context of the insurgency.
In the narrative for healing, as my family and community have
been affected by this conflict to the extent that we lost the capacity to make
decisions and to properly plan for our future, when I apply this narrative, I
will be able to talk about our history in line with the LRA to allow me and my
community to reflect on it. This will further help us to find meaning and
significance in traumatic events we have lived through with. As it is stated
that stories give cognitive and emotional significance to experience and unlock
the mysteries of psychological sufferings, I will allow myself and my community
to narrate our story to make meanings as we have lost sense of safety and the
purpose and order of life for the past years. So I will consider the fact that
once this meaning is made, my healings and community’s healing will begin to
take place gradually. This is the healing power of the narrative that I see I
will be able to use.
Under narrative for action, I will consider the fact that
stories inspire us to act, communicate our values, hopes and emotions. I will
be able to tell my story and listen to the stories of others that I believe
will inspire me to act on their behalf as I am considered educated in my
village. So I will apply the public narrative where narratives for history and
connection will lead to narrative for action. I will use the story-telling
skills to motivate my community to organise themselves to take collective
actions to reach our shared values, hopes and concerns. Through this, I will encourage community
leaders to establish new ways of forgiving one another, ways of eradicating the
poverty caused by LRA as we will put collective effort into savings and credit
cooperatives to empower us economically.
Yago: Finally, could
you share with us how this Transforming Historical Harms framework has helped
you for a better understanding of the LRA conflict?
Tonny: This process
that I have been able to critically engage in immersing myself in to the
context of the war condition in Northern Uganda has effectively enabled me to
fully understand the conflict that affected me and my entire community in
general. It has also equipped with some lenses of viewing this conflict
different from the way I knew as I witnessed a section of the conflict
manifesting in violence and above all the process has given me the challenge to
attempt a transformation of the conflict as I was able to apply the approach
required. I appreciate the methodology of this sort that allows a student to
take a wider scope of analysing, understanding conflict while identifying root
causes and historical harms and traumas. I also applaud the lecturer for his
dynamic and relevant approach towards the course in general.
Yago: Thanks Tonny
for your wonderful work. I believe this is a relevant contribution towards the
transformation of this conflict. Thanks also to Amy for the THH framework proposed.
Tonny: I am humbled to
have had this moment to share with you my real life event in as far as the LRA
insurgency affects me. Transforming historical harm has been a very relevant
tool for me and hopefully for my entire community that I intend to apply this
tool in. The information I have given is true to the best of my knowledge and
real situations that I experienced.
