Aboke abductions
Encyclopedia
The Aboke abductions were the abductions
of 139 female secondary school
students by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army
from St. Mary's College boarding school
in Aboke
, northern Apac
District, Uganda
on 10 October 1996. The deputy head mistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. The Aboke abductions and Fassera's dramatic actions drew unprecedented, to that point, international attention to the insurgency in northern Uganda.
Following the rise to power in January 1986 of President Yoweri Museveni
after the victory of his rebel National Resistance Army
, the north of Uganda was wracked by conflict as first the rebel Uganda People's Democratic Army
and then the chiliastic Holy Spirit Movement
struggled against the new rulers. In January 1987, another rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) was started by the spirit-medium
Joseph Kony
and it shortly became the sole surviving rebel force. Despite attempts by the government to destroy or co-opt the LRA, it remained a weak but threatening force in the northern bush. In early 1994, the character of the LRA
changed after it began to be supplied by the government of Sudan
. The rebels began to target civilians, mutilating those they thought to be government sympathisers and abducting children as child soldiers and sex slaves
.
Most LRA activities at this time were concentrated within the three districts comprising Acholiland: Gulu
, Pader
and Kitgum
. However, the violence sometimes reached into Apac District
, which borders Gulu and Pader to the south. On 21 March 1989, the LRA had carried out a raid on St. Mary's College, a Combonian
school for girls mainly between the ages of 13 and 16. The rebels had abducted 10 schoolgirls and 33 seminarians and villagers, as well as killing others whom they had run across. In that incident, Fassera had tried to follow the rebels but had been forced to turn back after a battle erupted between the LRA force and a patrol of the government Uganda People's Defence Force
(UPDF). Nine of the ten girls eventually escaped, while one was killed in a battle several years later. As a result, a UPDF unit was assigned to protect the college.
By 1996, the security situation had again worsened. The soldiers of the UPDF had been replaced by Local Defense Unit militia. Rumors began to circulate through the countryside that the LRA was beginning to look at St. Mary's College as a likely target again. Nevertheless, in September 1996, the LDU militia stated that they must move from the college 16 kilometers away to the town of Ikeme. Sister Alba, the Mother Superior
, sent Sister Rachele to negotiate with the LDU commanding officer, who agreed to set up a night patrol if a pickup ferried the soldiers to the college at night and back to Ikeme at dawn. The LRA almost always attacked at night so this was a key breakthrough. Nineteen soldiers were assigned to the protection of the college, but Alba, feeling that the military presence is insufficient to stop an attack, sent Fassera by bike to ask for 50 soldiers, stating that she would otherwise close the school. Fassera did not have a way to transport the soldiers she was requesting, and the LDU officer calmed her by saying that he would send word if there was any danger.
, the expected soldiers had not yet arrived at the school. The three Sisters held a meeting to decide on a plan of action. The option of moving the girls out of the school and dispersing them was discussed, but it was already dark and the possibility that LRA rebels would be waiting outside to attack, deterred the sisters from this course. An hour later the girls went to bed, though the Mother Superior stayed up until 11:30pm to pray in the chapel. At 2:30 am, the night watchman at the college knocked on Sister Fassera's door stating: "Sister, the rebels are here."
Sister Fassera immediately woke Sister Alba and then moved out of the convent towards the front gate (Which was actually a net) of the compound and spotted the rebels outside the gate. Thinking that the rebels had been slowed by the gate and that they may be able to evacuate the girls through the back gate, the Nuns moved back towards the four dormitories, each of which had about 50 students. However, as they drew closer they saw flashlights around the dormitories and realized that the LRA had already come through the back gate. In the knowledge that, if caught, the rebels would force them to open the doors, Sisters Alba and Fassera woke the one older nun, Sister Matilde, and together hid in the compound's stock house. Through the night, they heard the sounds of rebels moving through the compound but never the voice of one of the girls, giving them hope that the rebels had been kept out of the dorms by the iron reinforced doors and windows. Later estimates put the number of armed rebels at about 200. They burned the school vehicle, ransacked the clinic
and unsuccessfully attempted to burn several buildings.
As dawn approached, the nuns heard the sounds of the rebels leaving. At first light (approximately 6:30 am) Sister Alba sighted a small group of girls wandering in the open. When asked if they were okay, Claudia, a girl in the second class (the equivalent of eighth grade
in the United States or Canada), stated that the other girls had been taken away. The sisters rushed to the dormitories for classes four, five and six. However the girls inside, believing that the rebels had captured the nuns refused to open the doors. Eventually the students were persuaded out. They reported to the sisters that the rebels had abducted classes one, two and three. One dormitory window had been broken and another's wall demolished. 139 secondary school girls between 13 and 16 years of age had been taken. At the time none of the Sisters were able to perform an accurate count.
d. Leaving the child with Sr. Alba, Sr. Rachele and Bosco left the college at about 7 a.m. The rebels had looted a large amount of candy and drinks that the college had bought for the Independence Day celebrations and the pursuers found that they could follow a trail of candy wrappers and drink bottles across the bush. They eventually came across a man who was fleeing the group of LRA, but who confirmed they had a group of girls with them. LRA bands were known to plant anti-personnel mine
s on their back trail to discourage pursuit and Bosco soon took the lead, telling Fassera to only step into his footprints. After wading through a swamp, Fassera and Bosco were joined by a woman whose girl had also been abducted by the passing band. Soon after, as they came over a ridge, they saw the band on the ridge ahead. Coming through the valley, the three emerged from some dense brush to find themselves facing the leveled rifles of 30 rebels arrayed in two lines.
Sister Rachele was depending on two factors: she was White and a nun
. The former might lead the rebels to treat her with more caution than they would another Ugandan, while the second was a position of respect in a religious country when dealing with a group that was led by a mystic. Fassera had spent a year and a half in Gulu
and knew enough of the Acholi language
to begin speaking with the man who identified himself as the leader of the LRA band. The leader, Mariano Ocaya, stated that he doesn't want the money she had brought but, in response to her request that he release the girls, to her astonishment, replied, "Do not worry. I will give you the girls." The leader ordered the woman who had joined Bosco and Fassera to leave and the pursuers and the LRA rebels then continued up the ridge, Fassera stayed close to Ocaya in the knowledge that only he could release the girls. They caught up with the girls and continued walking with the rebels and their abductees, both the students and other abductees that the rebels had taken before the band made camp near the railroad at Acokara.
Ocaya told Fassera to separate the St. Mary's College girls from the other captives and warned her against trying to add the other captives from her group. Fassera began to think that she would actually get all the girls back but at that moment a UPDF helicopter gunship
passed overhead, forcing everyone to scatter and hide in the brush and Ocaya ordered everyone to move again. Crossing the railroad tracks, the group came under fire from UPDF soldiers and everyone scrambled for cover. For four hours, the group continued on a forced march, periodically hiding from the gunship searching the area, as a rearguard of rebels slowed the UPDF soldiers. The group, apparently losing the UPDF, arrived in a camp where there were still more abductees and the St. Mary's College girls were again separated from the others. One of Ocaya's "wives" took Fassera behind a hut to bathe and they had an argument when Fassera refused to change out of her habit
into a dress. When she returned, Bosco whispered some of the girls were not being released. Fassera asked Ocaya if he was releasing the girls and he shook his head, wrote "139" in the dirt with a stick and said that he was releasing 109 and keeping 30, having selected them for desirable traits while Fassera was absent.
When Fassera protested, Ocaya said that she could write a letter to Joseph Kony
with the names of the girls and he might agree to release them. Taking a piece of paper, Fassera went back to the girls, she found that the 30 had already been separated. When she approached, the 30 began calling out to her to save them and, at an order from Ocaya, nearby soldiers began beating and kicking the girls. When they again fell silent, Ocaya again ordered Fassera to write down their names. As she came close, the girls again asked her to help, telling her that they would be raped if they stayed until nightfall. Again, Fassera asked Ocaya to release the 30 as well, but he replied that either 30 would stay or all would. One of the girls named Angela offered to write the names, as Ocaya insisted that Fassera join him and the other LRA commanders for tea and cookies. When she returned, Angela whispered that a girl named Janet had slipped into the 109. Fassera knew that Ocaya was thoroughly capable of ordering all 139 to stay if he found Fassera trying to sneak one of the 30 out, so he went to Janet and told her that she was endangering the entire group. Janet apologized and rejoined the 30. After telling Judith, the head girl of the class, to look after the other 29, Fassera and Bosco took the 109 and eventually found their way back to the college.
s. Caterina died of her wounds the following morning, but Judith was still alive 24 hours later and asked for water. The rebels instead dragged her into the forest and tied her to a tree. A group of captives gathering firewood found her body a week later but the body had not started decomposing, indicating that she had not been dead for long. After a week of walking, the girls were brought north to Kony's base in Southern Sudan where they were given to various commanders as "wives".
Sr. Rachele and the parents of the remaining abducted children formed the Concerned Parents Association (CPA) to raise awareness of the abductions and work for the children to be returned. In the course of their advocacy, the tale of the Aboke girls became one of the most widely known horror stories of the entire conflict. The CPA appealed to Pope John Paul II
, who condemned the abductions, therefore drawing international attention to the incident and the situation in northern Uganda in general. On 7 March 1997, President Museveni wrote to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
describing the plight of the Aboke girls. In June 1997, Sr. Rachele and members of the CPA met with LRA commanders in Juba, Sudan
. After originally denying that they held the girls, they then said they would release them if the Ugandan military declared a ceasefire. The Ugandan government rejected the proposal and stated that they were not responsible for anything that may happen to the girls.
One of the most active CPA members has been Angelina Atyam, mother of Aboke girl Charlotte. Sr. Rachele and Ms. Atyam have, between the two of them, met the UN Special representative for children and armed conflicts, Olara Otunnu
, then-U.S. First Lady
Hillary Clinton, Kofi Annan, Yoweri Museveni, the Pope, members of the European Parliament
, former South African President Nelson Mandela
, Libya
n President Muammar al-Gaddafi
, Sudan
ese President Omar al-Bashir
, and Zimbabwe
an President Robert Mugabe
, as well as numerous diplomats of other nations.
The Lord's Resistance Army continues to operate in Uganda, as well as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, attacking civilians and abducting youth. While the profile of the conflict has been raised since a 2002 government offensive into southern Sudan, a 2005 poll of humanitarian aid professionals named it to be the second most "forgotten" humanitarian emergency in the world. The leaders of the LRA were indicted in 2005 for war crime
s and crimes against humanity
by the International Criminal Court
, though others note that the indictments complicate the sporadic attempts at negotiations. A 2006 study estimated that 66,000 children and youth had been abducted over the course of the 20-year conflict.
On March 14, 2009, Catherine Ajok, the last of the abducted Aboke girls still held by the rebels, returned to Uganda. Ajok escaped during the Garamba offensive
against the LRA, and made her way to a UPDF base in Dungu
in DRC Congo. She returned with her 21-month-old baby, whom she said was fathered by Joseph Kony.
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
of 139 female secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
students by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
from St. Mary's College boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Aboke
Aboke
Aboke is a town in northern Apac District, Uganda.It is known for being the site of the Aboke abductions in October 1996 from St. Mary's College of 139 schoolgirls by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army....
, northern Apac
Apac
Apac is a town in Apac District, Northern Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of the district and the district headquarters are located there. The district is named after the town.-Location:...
District, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
on 10 October 1996. The deputy head mistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. The Aboke abductions and Fassera's dramatic actions drew unprecedented, to that point, international attention to the insurgency in northern Uganda.
Background
Following the rise to power in January 1986 of President Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986.Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
after the victory of his rebel National Resistance Army
National Resistance Army
The National Resistance Army , the military wing of the National Resistance Movement , was a rebel army that waged a guerrilla war, commonly referred to as the Luwero War or "the war in the bush", against the government of Milton Obote, and later that of Tito Okello.NRA was supported by Muammar...
, the north of Uganda was wracked by conflict as first the rebel Uganda People's Democratic Army
Uganda People's Democratic Army
The Uganda People's Democratic Army was a rebel group operating in northern Uganda from March 1986 to June 1988.In January, 1986, the government of Ugandan President Tito Okello was overthrown by the rebel National Resistance Army under the command of Yoweri Museveni, which took the capital city...
and then the chiliastic Holy Spirit Movement
Holy Spirit Movement
The Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
struggled against the new rulers. In January 1987, another rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(LRA) was started by the spirit-medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony is an African terrorist who is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army , a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments in Uganda...
and it shortly became the sole surviving rebel force. Despite attempts by the government to destroy or co-opt the LRA, it remained a weak but threatening force in the northern bush. In early 1994, the character of the LRA
Lord's Resistance Army (1994-2002)
The start of the period 1994 to 2002 of the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda saw the conflict intensifying due to Sudanese support to the rebels. There was a peak of bloodshed in the mid-1990s and then a gradual subsiding of the conflict...
changed after it began to be supplied by the government of Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. The rebels began to target civilians, mutilating those they thought to be government sympathisers and abducting children as child soldiers and sex slaves
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
.
Most LRA activities at this time were concentrated within the three districts comprising Acholiland: Gulu
Gulu
Gulu is a city in Northern Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The city is located at 2˚46'48N 32˚18'00E, on the metre gauge railway from Tororo to Pakwach. Gulu is located approximately , by road, north of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city...
, Pader
Pader District
Pader District is a district in Northern Uganda. It is named after Pader, the chief municipal, administrative and commercial town in the district, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
and Kitgum
Kitgum
Kitgum is a municipality in Kitgum District, in Northern Uganda. The town is administered by Kitgum Town Council, an Urban Local Government within Kitgum District Administration...
. However, the violence sometimes reached into Apac District
Apac District
Apac District is a district in Northern Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Apac, where the district headquarters are located...
, which borders Gulu and Pader to the south. On 21 March 1989, the LRA had carried out a raid on St. Mary's College, a Combonian
Daniel Comboni
Daniel Comboni was a Roman Catholic missionary and Saint.-Early life:He was born at Limone sul Garda, Brescia, Italy, into a family of cultivators employed by one of the rich local proprietors...
school for girls mainly between the ages of 13 and 16. The rebels had abducted 10 schoolgirls and 33 seminarians and villagers, as well as killing others whom they had run across. In that incident, Fassera had tried to follow the rebels but had been forced to turn back after a battle erupted between the LRA force and a patrol of the government Uganda People's Defence Force
Uganda People's Defence Force
The Uganda Peoples Defence Force , previously the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates the UPDF has a total strength of 40–45,000, and consists of land forces and an Air Wing.The IISS Military Balance 2007 says there...
(UPDF). Nine of the ten girls eventually escaped, while one was killed in a battle several years later. As a result, a UPDF unit was assigned to protect the college.
By 1996, the security situation had again worsened. The soldiers of the UPDF had been replaced by Local Defense Unit militia. Rumors began to circulate through the countryside that the LRA was beginning to look at St. Mary's College as a likely target again. Nevertheless, in September 1996, the LDU militia stated that they must move from the college 16 kilometers away to the town of Ikeme. Sister Alba, the Mother Superior
Mother Superior
A mother superior is an abbess or other nun in charge of a Christian religious order or congregation, a convent or house of women under vows.Mother superior may also refer to:*Mother Superior , a rock band who became ¾ of Rollins Band circa 2000...
, sent Sister Rachele to negotiate with the LDU commanding officer, who agreed to set up a night patrol if a pickup ferried the soldiers to the college at night and back to Ikeme at dawn. The LRA almost always attacked at night so this was a key breakthrough. Nineteen soldiers were assigned to the protection of the college, but Alba, feeling that the military presence is insufficient to stop an attack, sent Fassera by bike to ask for 50 soldiers, stating that she would otherwise close the school. Fassera did not have a way to transport the soldiers she was requesting, and the LDU officer calmed her by saying that he would send word if there was any danger.
Abductions
By 8:15 pm on 9 October 1996, Ugandan Independence DayIndependence Day
An Independence Day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, usually after ceasing to be a colony or part of another nation or state, and more rarely after the end of a military occupation...
, the expected soldiers had not yet arrived at the school. The three Sisters held a meeting to decide on a plan of action. The option of moving the girls out of the school and dispersing them was discussed, but it was already dark and the possibility that LRA rebels would be waiting outside to attack, deterred the sisters from this course. An hour later the girls went to bed, though the Mother Superior stayed up until 11:30pm to pray in the chapel. At 2:30 am, the night watchman at the college knocked on Sister Fassera's door stating: "Sister, the rebels are here."
Sister Fassera immediately woke Sister Alba and then moved out of the convent towards the front gate (Which was actually a net) of the compound and spotted the rebels outside the gate. Thinking that the rebels had been slowed by the gate and that they may be able to evacuate the girls through the back gate, the Nuns moved back towards the four dormitories, each of which had about 50 students. However, as they drew closer they saw flashlights around the dormitories and realized that the LRA had already come through the back gate. In the knowledge that, if caught, the rebels would force them to open the doors, Sisters Alba and Fassera woke the one older nun, Sister Matilde, and together hid in the compound's stock house. Through the night, they heard the sounds of rebels moving through the compound but never the voice of one of the girls, giving them hope that the rebels had been kept out of the dorms by the iron reinforced doors and windows. Later estimates put the number of armed rebels at about 200. They burned the school vehicle, ransacked the clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
and unsuccessfully attempted to burn several buildings.
As dawn approached, the nuns heard the sounds of the rebels leaving. At first light (approximately 6:30 am) Sister Alba sighted a small group of girls wandering in the open. When asked if they were okay, Claudia, a girl in the second class (the equivalent of eighth grade
Eighth grade
Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...
in the United States or Canada), stated that the other girls had been taken away. The sisters rushed to the dormitories for classes four, five and six. However the girls inside, believing that the rebels had captured the nuns refused to open the doors. Eventually the students were persuaded out. They reported to the sisters that the rebels had abducted classes one, two and three. One dormitory window had been broken and another's wall demolished. 139 secondary school girls between 13 and 16 years of age had been taken. At the time none of the Sisters were able to perform an accurate count.
Pursuit
Fassera immediately volunteered to go after the girls and Sr. Alba agreed. Fassera changed clothes and took some money from the office to buy the girls' freedom when two male teachers, Bosco and Tom, came in and volunteered to accompany her in the pursuit. Fassera agreed to take the younger of the two, Bosco, and was about to leave when she was stopped by a 13-year old student who had been rapeRape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d. Leaving the child with Sr. Alba, Sr. Rachele and Bosco left the college at about 7 a.m. The rebels had looted a large amount of candy and drinks that the college had bought for the Independence Day celebrations and the pursuers found that they could follow a trail of candy wrappers and drink bottles across the bush. They eventually came across a man who was fleeing the group of LRA, but who confirmed they had a group of girls with them. LRA bands were known to plant anti-personnel mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s on their back trail to discourage pursuit and Bosco soon took the lead, telling Fassera to only step into his footprints. After wading through a swamp, Fassera and Bosco were joined by a woman whose girl had also been abducted by the passing band. Soon after, as they came over a ridge, they saw the band on the ridge ahead. Coming through the valley, the three emerged from some dense brush to find themselves facing the leveled rifles of 30 rebels arrayed in two lines.
Sister Rachele was depending on two factors: she was White and a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. The former might lead the rebels to treat her with more caution than they would another Ugandan, while the second was a position of respect in a religious country when dealing with a group that was led by a mystic. Fassera had spent a year and a half in Gulu
Gulu
Gulu is a city in Northern Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The city is located at 2˚46'48N 32˚18'00E, on the metre gauge railway from Tororo to Pakwach. Gulu is located approximately , by road, north of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city...
and knew enough of the Acholi language
Acholi language
Acholi is a language primarily spoken by the Acholi people in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, a region known as Acholiland in northern Uganda. Acholi is also spoken in the southern part of the Opari District of South Sudan...
to begin speaking with the man who identified himself as the leader of the LRA band. The leader, Mariano Ocaya, stated that he doesn't want the money she had brought but, in response to her request that he release the girls, to her astonishment, replied, "Do not worry. I will give you the girls." The leader ordered the woman who had joined Bosco and Fassera to leave and the pursuers and the LRA rebels then continued up the ridge, Fassera stayed close to Ocaya in the knowledge that only he could release the girls. They caught up with the girls and continued walking with the rebels and their abductees, both the students and other abductees that the rebels had taken before the band made camp near the railroad at Acokara.
Ocaya told Fassera to separate the St. Mary's College girls from the other captives and warned her against trying to add the other captives from her group. Fassera began to think that she would actually get all the girls back but at that moment a UPDF helicopter gunship
Gunship
The term "gunship" is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed with heavy guns.-In Navy:In the Navy, the term originally appeared in the mid-19th century as a less-common synonym for gunboat.-In military aviation:...
passed overhead, forcing everyone to scatter and hide in the brush and Ocaya ordered everyone to move again. Crossing the railroad tracks, the group came under fire from UPDF soldiers and everyone scrambled for cover. For four hours, the group continued on a forced march, periodically hiding from the gunship searching the area, as a rearguard of rebels slowed the UPDF soldiers. The group, apparently losing the UPDF, arrived in a camp where there were still more abductees and the St. Mary's College girls were again separated from the others. One of Ocaya's "wives" took Fassera behind a hut to bathe and they had an argument when Fassera refused to change out of her habit
Religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognisable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anachoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform...
into a dress. When she returned, Bosco whispered some of the girls were not being released. Fassera asked Ocaya if he was releasing the girls and he shook his head, wrote "139" in the dirt with a stick and said that he was releasing 109 and keeping 30, having selected them for desirable traits while Fassera was absent.
When Fassera protested, Ocaya said that she could write a letter to Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony is an African terrorist who is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army , a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments in Uganda...
with the names of the girls and he might agree to release them. Taking a piece of paper, Fassera went back to the girls, she found that the 30 had already been separated. When she approached, the 30 began calling out to her to save them and, at an order from Ocaya, nearby soldiers began beating and kicking the girls. When they again fell silent, Ocaya again ordered Fassera to write down their names. As she came close, the girls again asked her to help, telling her that they would be raped if they stayed until nightfall. Again, Fassera asked Ocaya to release the 30 as well, but he replied that either 30 would stay or all would. One of the girls named Angela offered to write the names, as Ocaya insisted that Fassera join him and the other LRA commanders for tea and cookies. When she returned, Angela whispered that a girl named Janet had slipped into the 109. Fassera knew that Ocaya was thoroughly capable of ordering all 139 to stay if he found Fassera trying to sneak one of the 30 out, so he went to Janet and told her that she was endangering the entire group. Janet apologized and rejoined the 30. After telling Judith, the head girl of the class, to look after the other 29, Fassera and Bosco took the 109 and eventually found their way back to the college.
Aftermath
Five of the thirty girls died in captivity; all but two eventually made their escape by 2006. Soon after the abduction, a girl named Jennifer went missing. When she was found hiding in a hut, the rebels dragged her into the open and ordered the others to beat her to death. The girls hit her lightly at first, but then the rebels surrounded the group and beat anyone who was not hitting Jennifer hard. Afterwards the LRA rebels left the corpse in the open and beat those who wept, both as an object lesson about attempting to escape and as a way to break the social ties between the girls. Of the fates of the thirty, the death of Judith, the head girl, is notable for its brutality. It is Sr. Rachele's belief that her request of Judith that she look after the others led her to do something that annoyed the rebels. One evening, Judith and another girl from the group of other captives, Caterina, had their hands bound behind their backs and were attacked with sticks, bicycle chains and macheteMachete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
s. Caterina died of her wounds the following morning, but Judith was still alive 24 hours later and asked for water. The rebels instead dragged her into the forest and tied her to a tree. A group of captives gathering firewood found her body a week later but the body had not started decomposing, indicating that she had not been dead for long. After a week of walking, the girls were brought north to Kony's base in Southern Sudan where they were given to various commanders as "wives".
Sr. Rachele and the parents of the remaining abducted children formed the Concerned Parents Association (CPA) to raise awareness of the abductions and work for the children to be returned. In the course of their advocacy, the tale of the Aboke girls became one of the most widely known horror stories of the entire conflict. The CPA appealed to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, who condemned the abductions, therefore drawing international attention to the incident and the situation in northern Uganda in general. On 7 March 1997, President Museveni wrote to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
describing the plight of the Aboke girls. In June 1997, Sr. Rachele and members of the CPA met with LRA commanders in Juba, Sudan
Juba, Sudan
Juba is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. It also serves as the capital of Central Equatoria, the smallest of the ten states of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County.- Population :In 2005, Juba's...
. After originally denying that they held the girls, they then said they would release them if the Ugandan military declared a ceasefire. The Ugandan government rejected the proposal and stated that they were not responsible for anything that may happen to the girls.
One of the most active CPA members has been Angelina Atyam, mother of Aboke girl Charlotte. Sr. Rachele and Ms. Atyam have, between the two of them, met the UN Special representative for children and armed conflicts, Olara Otunnu
Olara Otunnu
Dr.Olara A. Otunnu is a Lawyer and the President of the Uganda Peoples Congressand a Presidential Aspirant for the 2011 General elections in Uganda...
, then-U.S. First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
Hillary Clinton, Kofi Annan, Yoweri Museveni, the Pope, members of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, former South African President Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n President Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese President Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...
, and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
an President Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
, as well as numerous diplomats of other nations.
The Lord's Resistance Army continues to operate in Uganda, as well as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, attacking civilians and abducting youth. While the profile of the conflict has been raised since a 2002 government offensive into southern Sudan, a 2005 poll of humanitarian aid professionals named it to be the second most "forgotten" humanitarian emergency in the world. The leaders of the LRA were indicted in 2005 for war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s and crimes against humanity
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
by the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, though others note that the indictments complicate the sporadic attempts at negotiations. A 2006 study estimated that 66,000 children and youth had been abducted over the course of the 20-year conflict.
On March 14, 2009, Catherine Ajok, the last of the abducted Aboke girls still held by the rebels, returned to Uganda. Ajok escaped during the Garamba offensive
2008–2009 Garamba offensive
The 2008–2009 Garamba offensive started on December 14, 2008, when joint Ugandan, DR Congolese and Southern Sudanese forces launched a military attack against the Lord's Resistance Army in the Garamba region of DR Congo.-Background:In June 2008, after the LRA had attacked and killed 23 people in...
against the LRA, and made her way to a UPDF base in Dungu
Dungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dungu is a town in Haut-Uele District located at the confluence of the Dungu and Kibali Rivers where they join to form the Uele River, south of the Garamba National Park. Dungu's terrain is wooded savannah, and its climate is tropical....
in DRC Congo. She returned with her 21-month-old baby, whom she said was fathered by Joseph Kony.
External links
- Lacy, Marc, A Mother's Bitter Choice: Telling Kidnappers No, New York Times, 25 January 2003