Report from William Akena, Uganda-CAN correspondent on the ground in Gulu -

The Uganda Peoples Defense Forces has reported that it captured Kony's eldest wife and her 5 year old son in an operation in southern Sudan.

The operation iron fist intelligence officer, Colonel Otema Charles Awany confirmed to Uganda-CAN via a telephone interview yesterday afternoon that Kony's eldest wife and her son were captured.

Colonel Otema further said the capture took place on Tuesday afternoon, but declined to disclose the area in which the capture took place claiming security reasons for their forces in southern Sudan.

Report from William Akena, Uganda-CAN correspondent on the ground in Gulu -

The general security situation within the region has not been so calm within the past 3 days.

The army northern public relations officer captain Paddy Ankunda reported to Uganda-CAN today that on the July 24 the army killed 3 LRA fighters east of Ngomoromo in Kitgum district, recovered 2 loaded magazines and one of the UPDF fighters was injured in the fight.

Captain Paddy Ankunda also said that on the July 25 they recovered one rifle, rescued one abductee at Acholi bur in Pader district and killed one LRA fighter.

In a related incident they also rescued 4 other abductees at Ojuko along the border with Pader and Lira district and also captured one LRA fighter with a rifle and 7 loaded magazines.

Captain Paddy Ankunda appealed to the rebels to come out of the bush and seek amnesty for peace to prevail in the region.

Reporting from Gulu town, Uganda-CAN correspondent William Akena provides updates from the ground.

UPDF Kills 3 in Pader
7-21-2005

The army has said that it killed three rebels in Pader district on Tuesday night. The 5th division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Etyang George told Uganda-CAN that the rebels were killed in a battle at Ogony and Lagile in Awere sub-county.

Etyang said the rebel captain identified as Captain Owachgui was among the three killed in the
attack. However Lieutenant Colonel Etyang says that UPDF soldiers in Pader have so far killed 13 rebels and recovered six sub-machine guns in the last two weeks.

One controversy in the language of the conflict is whether those killed by the UPDF were "rebels" or "victims." At least 75% of the LRA rebel forces consist of children kidnapped and forced into soldiering.

William Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in northern Uganda, reports from Gulu town -

One Killed, Ten Injured in Attacks Monday

Lord’s Resistance Army rebels [LRA] on Monday evening ambushed a tipper lorry travelling from Kitgum to Lubone in southern sudan between Mucwini sub-county and Madi Opei sub-county in Kitgum district.

Northern region army spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda confirmed this to Uganda-CAN yesterday saying the rebels numbered about five that ambushed the vehicle between Mucwini and Madi Opei.

Ankunda said the vehicle registration NS 17028 (Sudanese registration number)was not even burned since the army where nearby and rushed to the scene causing the rebel to run away.

He said one person was killed and ten others were seriously injured,the victims were later taken back to Kitgum government hospital where they are now getting treatment.

Ankunda said the army is still pursuing the rebels and that they will be purnished for killing innocent people.

From Maggie Alerotex, Uganda-CAN correspondent on the ground. Contact Maggie at alerotex@yahoo.com. -

Life in the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps in northern Uganda is equivalent to a jungle "survival for the fittest". People’s problems range from poor shelters, diseases, and shortage of water food coupled with haunting fear of being attacked any time by the rebels.

In their despicable state, the people in the camps still afford to splash smiles at visitors and warmly welcome them. Barefooted children in clothes dusty and torn excitedly move with visitors to any IDP camp. Water containers in long zigzagged lines spread before every one’s eyes who visits any camp. Young women, girls and children normally surround the only borehole around, patiently waiting to fetch some water.

These people traumatized by their sufferings seem barely real, their circumstances too complicated to grasp, and their plight too overwhelming to address. Due the insecurity in the region they lack land to till and grow foods. They depend on aid from NGOs, but such aid is limited by lack of resources and insecurity.

“We are going to die here. We are ignored and despised! All we want is to go back home where we can cultivate and have food in plenty. Life here is so hard,” says Mego Ventino Laker, a resident of one IDP camp.

Because the situation has rendered them idle, anti-social behavior is rampant in the IDP camps. The men resort to drinking of local brews and some of the women including teenage girls “sell” their bodies to earn a buck, while many others are sexually abused by UPDF who should be protecting them. Human Rights Watch and many other human rights bodies have continuously condemned the acts of rape and defilement practiced by the government soldiers.

The camp leaders assert that, every time they report to army authorities an act of sexual abuse, the soldiers are normally transferred to other camps instead of punishing them.

A revelation by one grandmother, Mego Arach, age-70, who takes care of 10 grandchildren orphaned as a result of the war is saddening.

Through tears and heartache, Arach narrates the extent of her suffering. The grand children include 9 girls and 1 boy. “I have nothing to give them, I am a very poor old woman with no husband, someone has to help me out,” she cries.

She says all the nine girls are HIV positive and claims that some of them were raped by ‘mobile’ soldiers who normally spend sometime in an area before being transferred to another place, while others sold their bodies to the soldiers for survival. “Its only the boy who is not sick with this ‘slim’ (a local term for AIDS). I don’t know what to do,” she says.

One of the girls who prefers anonymity, recounts of how the grandmother was so ill and she had nothing to do to save her life. “A soldier found me crying, when I told him the problem, he asked me to go with him to buy medicine. When we reached his room in a hotel, he forcefully tore my dress and slept with me. I am now very ill,” she says crying.

Another girl admits to ‘giving’ in her body for money so she could buy food to take home. “That time, we had nothing to eat, I had to do it for 5,000 Shs (about 2 dollars),” she admits.

The region local leaders say the war has disintegrated the entire culture to the extent that parents don’t have authorities anymore over their children.

According to a report, “Pawns of Politics” a World Vision advocacy documentation, the rate of HIV/AIDS in northern Uganda is nearly double that of the rest of the country.