It is still not Christmas in Northern Uganda…sadly so…

They have been meeting in Juba, South Sudan to bring peace this Christmas to Northern Uganda; peace that has eluded this part of Africa for many years. Sadly the various delegations such as Ugandan Government and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, all of which had met with Southern Sudanese mediator Riek Machar, took a break for the Christmas holidays.

 

Everyone seemed to have gotten into the Spirit of Christmas; all but the children of Northern Uganda. Even President Museveni of Uganda sent a gift of 10 bulls for the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels to consume during this season.  That was after he had a personal conversation with the rebel leader Joseph Kony.  Things are headed in the right direction but somewhere people have to yield to a greater cause than their own.  At times the negotiations remind one of little boys in the sand box of life just not getting along.  Life for many is all about power, control, and image.  The big issue is whether the leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army will be held responsible for the evil and brutality that has been unleashed on northern Uganda. 

 

Twenty years of an ongoing war has caused havoc and utter destruction on the families of this northern Uganda area, primarily the Acholi community; a destruction that had once again passed the world’s attention until a few year ago when different organizations started to become aware of what was taking place.

 

What was taking place was horrendous.  Over 20,000 children were abducted from boarding schools, schools, villages.  Intimidated and brainwashed, they became child soldiers as young as 10 years old.  The boys were forced to commit atrocities even in their own villages.  The girls were used as concubines and sex slaves.

 

Besides the child soldiers, those who would not cooperate with the Kony rebels, children and adult alike were maimed through the cutting off of ears, hands, lips; all performed with the crudest of weapons. 

This Christmas children are not just scarred on the outside, but their souls and hearts are deeply wounded. Even after gaining freedom from the Lord’s Resistance Army they rarely can smile, joy has eluded them and peace is missing, and anger and violence rage within.

 

Even now the government protected camps are filled with families who are still afraid to go home thinking that their village might be raided, even on this night that is considered sacred by many.  Two million people had been displaced causing Jan Egeland, the United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to say in an interview with BBC in 2003, "I cannot find any other part of the world that is having an emergency on the scale of Uganda that is getting so little international attention."

 

Fear ruled and still rules the land, causing thousands of children to become night commuters and sleep in the city underneath porches and trees in places like hospitals and schools in order to avoid abduction by the Kony rebels who stalked the countryside attacking small villages at night.   

 

May this be the last Christmas when the children of northern Uganda fear the night, may the peace that so represents Christmas permeate the hearts of all concerned, and may reconciliation and restoration be the rule of the day between all warring factions.  May the schools from which countless were abducted be restored, may the families that became divided because of this find the love that they need to encourage each other to start anew.

 

This Christmas let me leave you with a Yoruba prayer from Nigeria, “Let us behave gently, that we may die peacefully; that our children may stretch out their hands upon us in burial.”

Merry Christmas…jon

 

PS:  Today there is a kind of peace in the North of Uganda.  Joseph Kony and his rebels called the Lord's Resistance Army have moved out of Uganda and now are roaming in places such as South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic creating havoc for the population there.  The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Joseph Kony and others, but he is still at large.  Peace talks that had take place for two years in Juba, South Sudan have broken down and Joseph Kony refused to sign the agreement. He simply did not show up on several occasions.  Slowly the North is rebuilding and some money is flowing in from foreign sources.  Murchison Falls National Park has become safe once again for tourists, children are slowly returning to school, the scars that are within remain.  Many of the 30,000 abductees are missing or dead.  The relatives never had a chance to probably mourn their passing,

 

Yet many people of the North, see Jospeph Kony as a hero who had the strength and gumption to stand up to the government of Yoweri Museveni for 20 some years.

 

There is a ceremony in Acholi culture that is called the bitter drink, and the past is forgiven and many want Kony and the others to partake in that event, while others who lost members of their family desire to see him prosecuted and punished.

 

For a westerner that might be confusing, but often Africans seek peace at any price and if that means forgiveness, so let it be. Christians are praying for a conversion of Joseph Kony and his turn around as a testimony for the grace of God.  I will travel to Gulu in the near future and write an update after that.  August 8, 2008...jon