Uganda’s Silent War is a story about atrocities faced by the people due to poor leadership. The northern part of Uganda was controlled by rebels through the leadership of Joseph Kony. He has terrorized the Northern part of Uganda over twenty years by capturing small children and turning them into child soldiers and also killing the elderly or cutting off their noses, mouth and ears. The rebel group goes under the name “The Lord’s Resistance Army”.
That terroristic community was formed in order to liberate the people of the northern Uganda from what poor leadership of the government. The move was echoed by many but as time passed by, the Lord’s Resistance Army changed their tactics, and instead of targeting the government, they started preying upon the locals. They have so far captured over twenty one thousand of children both male and female in order to recruit them into child soldiers. The rebel group targeted at children between eight and ten years since they are easily brainwashed to accomplish whatever their commander asks them to do. The male children were taught how to use a gun, while the female children were raised to become the wives for the rebels.
Historically, Uganda has faced different atrocities. One case that should be pointed out is the dictatorial leadership style that was implied to people by the former president Idi Amin Dada. He killed people mercilessly and took their bodies to feed crocodiles. It was believed that close to a thousand people died weekly in the northern part of Uganda. These events made the government of Uganda together with other humanitarian organizations try to negotiate and have a ceasefire deal between the rebel group and the government. There have been some indicators that the war was nearly over but still that seemed to be a dream for the people of Uganda since the rebel group was still tormenting the people in the northern region of Uganda.
The western nations through the International Criminal Court have tried to come in, influence on the situation and rescue the rest people, but their efforts have not brought any change since no western nation has intervened directly into this matter. The locals thought that once the warrants of arrest were issued for rebel leaders, the western countries could have brought in their armies and pursue to capture the rebel leader. The local army has over the years tried to capture the leader who mostly lived in hiding, but they have not succeeded to do that. The failure of the local government as well as the western nations to capture the rebel leader has led to the locals to feel hopeless on restoring the justice.
Many local leaders are advocating for local tribunals to end the war. Some have indicated that it can only be accomplished by engaging in peace negotiations with the rebels in order to bring the conflict to an end. They believed that if the rebels agreed to be cleansed through a traditional ceremony, their sins would be forgiven and the society would welcome them back. For many people, this is the only way to restore social harmony. However, this has been seen as a way out for only some people since majority of them still wish to do justice upon them. Women and children who have gone through merciless ordeals in the hands of the rebels wish to have their leaders either killed or be imprisoned for the entire life.
Over the years, some children who were serving as child soldiers for the rebel leader have been released, some have been murdered and some still serve in the rebel army. Those who managed to get back to the village have still been facing hard times since the society is not ready to accept them back due to the fear of them turning against the locals as they are no longer viewed as normal kids but killing machines. However, some local and international organizations have set up schools to take in these children and offer them counseling so as to try and make them forget about the past and try to lead a normal life amongst the locals and their families.
Through this story, I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary for all the people to try and assist each other in solving their problems or challenges that face the human race. This should be achieved through coming up with programs like community based responses in order to eliminate a problem and not just to help a few people and leave the community at large affected. Also, there is a need to force leaders to change their behavior and attitudes towards building policies that may have inclusion and fairness to all the people.
This story relates to social changes in the sense that any government should take the responsibility to ensure there is awareness among societies including governments and other authorities either international or local that can form or enact policies that can have a diverse effect on the living conditions of people in their nations or communities.