Where are the abducted Children of the Joseph Kony's LRA
In May of 2009 Thousands of abducted Children have not been accounted for
Where are the Abducted Children of Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army?
30,000 children abducted by Joseph Kony the LRA;
those are the figures one finds. Other a bit older reports speak of 10
or 20,000, one report speaks of 66,000 abducted children in Northern
Uganda. No matter what the actual figure is, the number of
abductions is tragic. Each one representing a family in tears and
agony, each one representing the life of a child ruined before it could
blossom.
Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army is estimated to be somewhere between 600 and 1200 combatants, most figure it at 600 and about 600 non-combatants such as forced wives or concubines, laborers and children of LRA officers and their kidnapped wives.
If that is the present reality in 2009, what then happened to the thousands of other children that were abducted in the 20 some year conflict? Where are the children of the Acholi people? Where are the children of the Langi People? Where are the children of the Teso people the last people group to be raided by the LRA in Uganda? Where the South Sudanese children that were abducted? Where are the children that were taken inside of the Democratic Republic of Congo?
In the West, the news reports speak of 30,000 children that were abducted by Joseph Kony. Here in Africa, the reports are the same. Non-Governmental Aid Agencies both in Uganda estimate that 20,000 to 30,000 children were abducted. Some put it even put the figure higher such as 66,000 abducted children.
Now here is the reality. Joseph Kony’s LRA is estimated to be somewhere around 600 to 1000 combatants. Most Ugandan government reports say 600 combatants and about 400 to 600 non-combatants. For 1,200 at the most. The recent three plus months of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo caused the escape of some of the LRA soldiers and enslaved women with their children to be freed including Catherine Ajok who had been n captivity for 13 years. Soldier of the LRA that were killed are said to be 150 with others wounded and incapacitated.
The question that arises is this “Where are the Children? If 30,000 were abducted where are remaining Children. When Kony was asked by the UN to release the children, his reply “I do not have the children.”
Children made up the main fighting force of the LRA. Volunteers that are Adults were and are not trusted by the LRA leadership. They were seen as Ugandan government spies at times killed, tortured or sent away. If the reports by Ugandan army, MONUC which is a UN Force, and the estimates by the others involved are correct. Then there are thousands upon thousands unaccounted for, so it seems.
Dr. Stephen Kagoda, the permanent secretary in the
Ugandan Ministry of Internal Affairs reported to
Parliament
in October of 2008 that some of the missing children might have been
sold in the Darfur area of Sudan, as soldiers, sex slaves and cheap
laborers by Joseph Kony. (New Vision Newspaper October 22, 2008) Minister Kagoda further
stated that one of the reasons that Joseph Kony did not sign the peace
agreement was over the accountability for the missing children.
He further reported to the Ugandan Parliament that a World Bank report from 2007 stated that 66,000 children have been abducted from northern and eastern Uganda and used as soldiers, porters and sex slaves by LRA commanders since 1990. (That figure is double of the 30,000 to 35,000 most often reported here in Uganda and abroad.) Dr. Kagoda shed some light on the number of escapees from the LRA, stating that 25,000 ex-LRA soldiers or forced wives, sex-slaves have come through the five reception centers set up in Northern Uganda. That most likely includes children born while the mothers were in captivity. (According to the Uganda Amnesty Commission 24,000 LRA members were given amnesty, 17,000 of those had been combatants)
That leaves thousands missing, fortunately infrastructure including government offices have been and are being restored in the North. A peace committee from the LRA has toured the Acholi, Langi and Teso areas where children were being abducted and apologized for the atrocities and abductions, but there was no release of children. This took place in 2008 during the peace negotiations.
In America, one child goes missing and an amber alert is issued and the police is out in force on every street, private citizens on the lookout and often the child is found safely.
There is no such method here. People have to register their missing children with authorities and hope for the best. Uganda is the size of Oregon State or England. It however has 30 million people, it is the youngest nation in the world, with over half the population below the age of 14. Children can move from one village to the next without many knowing it, some of the missing children will eventually be found in some village or even town in Uganda.
Others died in battle with the Ugandan government troops, or the South Sudanese troops inside of Sudan. Malaria is still the number one killer in Africa and in Uganda and some succumbed to that disease. Others were killed by the LRA trying to escape, or for no reason at all.
An accounting for he children, a census of some kind must be forthcoming. I hope that some will be found in the process and another mother’s tear wiped away as they are reunited with their child.
The release of the children with Kony is on the minds and hearts of people around the world, it is especially on the hearts and minds of those who have a child that is missing and presumed to be in the LRA. Solutions are tossed around and discussed in forums, on blogs, even on Twitter. The simple answer is, take Kony out of the equation and the LRA would be no more. Don't go after the LRA soldiers, but after the leader.
Many Acholi leaders want the peace talks to be started once again. They want a peaceful solution and a return of all the children now in captivity. The recent attacks on Kony have depleted some of his supplies, his weapons, ammunition and his capabilities. It is hoped that it will force him to return to the peace talks.
My personal solution…a bit on the radical side…send in the French Foreign Legion, one of the best-trained forces in the world when it comes to extracting people. They can operate in the jungle with the logistical backup other forces need, just stealth, their guns. They know how to live as Kony does and for one once his fake Ju-Ju will not work….it is time….The main thing is to safely release these children and restore them to sanity and to their families…from an American in Kampala…jon
Invisible Children is using Uganda for its own gain
US troops arrive to ‘kill or capture’ Kony
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Christian, Muslim, Mystic, Patriot, Madman. but who really is he?
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 Uganda's
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Uganda. |
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 Richard
Akena:
Captures by the LRA several times, from child to killer, now heading an
orphanage in Northern Uganda. His Story. |
 Where are the children of the LRA?
Where are the abducted children of Uganda? What has happened to them? |
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The Night Commuters of Northern Uganda: Fortunately this no longer exists but it is a look back to when it did. |
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 Uganda 2009 and Joseph Kony LRA:
This is a look at the problems with the LRA in 2009 in the DRC. |
 Joseph Kony LRA News
Updates: regular updates to
activities of the LRA, presently in neighboring countries of Uganda. |
 It is still not Christmas in Northern Uganda:
a look back to Christmas of 2006 in Northern Uganda |
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does not feel like Christmas-Joseph Kony-Christmas 2008:
Operation Lightning Thunder began against the LRA on December
14, 2008.
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 Uganda is more than Idi Amin, Joseph Kony and the LRA:
The images that westerners have of Uganda is amazing. Rarely do those
images reflect the reality of Uganda. |
 Living in a Warzone - Uganda:
Many people across the globe think that Uganda
is a warzone, it is a warzone of wrong
information about Uganda. |
 Northern
Uganda - Peace - Give it a Chance:
It is time to put aside the wrong information and help to
rebuild Northern Uganda in any way possible. |
 Joseph Kony's Mother's
dying Wish.
Before she died she had a wish for her son Joseph Kony. |
 Volunteers needed to help rebuild northern
Uganda, two weeks working with a former Child Soldier at his
orphanage - weeks that will change your life forever.
Two weeks in Kitgum, Northern Uganda that will remain with you
for a long time. |
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