Im. Beaten and i know. Now i am doing. And im not proud of. That. Would not matter you know. That im not. Going to. Run and panic and cannot and i dont know. That. That if. And when that joseph kony and the Lords Resistance Army destroyed my life. And now seven years i was in the bush i could have done many things with my knife a year little bit if i can say youre your answer child instance and it would been tempting to. Say people who think. Tanners that. Theres a celebration underway today in the town of attack in northern uganda but the memory of the past is never far behind the rebels of the launce Resistance Army left the region some ten years ago the suffering they caused still hasnt healed. The people here are celebrating the anniversary of evelyn on his mothers death margaret a callow died three years after evelyn was liberated from the hands of christian militia margarets health had suffered under years of worry for her daughter the years that evelyn spent as a captive of joseph koni head of the n. R. A. Everyone here young and old is a victim of the terror waged by the l r a some are also perpetrators the n. R. A. Killed their families their children parents grandparents many were kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers given no choice but to plunder and kill. Young women had to bear the children of their kidnap us get to know my man and when i returned home from captivity and from the bush i had two children with him my mother took in my children and love them when my mother died she left a big hole in my life prevented by so many people here in the village lost family members to the yellow raised massacres. Yeah i saw they werent pleased that my children were here i couldnt raise my children here and i cant trust people. I only come here for short visits and then i leave. My. Evelyn and his ordeal began here in the bush near the road that leads to attack on august twenty fifth one thousand nine hundred ninety four at about five pm. Evelyn lived with her mother and her grandparents on the nearby farm. She was just eleven years old when. She shows us the place where the familys heart was the circle where the walls used to be is still visible evelyn was on her way home from school when she was suddenly confronted by a group of rebels. The rebels asked me whats her name i didnt reply they took sticks and beat me. Are you evelyn money they asked me and i said no my name is betty im just visiting. But they took me with them we walked to the next farm where the village teacher lived when he saw us he reached for his rubber boots the rebels thought he was reaching for a weapon and they shot him on the spot. Then we continued i had no idea that i would have to spend many years marching with the l r a i spent eleven years in the bush with the rebels i had no contact with my family. And. Northern uganda has suffered from civil unrest for generations the region is home to the actually ethnic group who have farmed and raise livestock in the isolated region for many years under the nearly seventy years of British Colonial rule the rift between the north and the south deepened. The north remained poor and undeveloped. Had. After uganda achieved independence and nine hundred sixty two various armed groups trying to seize power under the dictator in political opponents were brutally pass acute it. A chilly who opposed our men were arrested in the tens of thousands tortured and murdered. In one thousand nine hundred six gallery most of amy was sworn in as president. His policies continued to exacerbate ethnic conflict in uganda and he also regarded the actually as a Security Risk time and again most of any dispatched the military into actually land in northern uganda nine hundred eighty seven word began to spread of a man named joseph koni who claimed he had been called by god to free the actually people he formed a rebel group in the north calling his militia the Lords Resistance Army. Under countys command the l r a began to wage armed rebellion against ugandas army kone and his militia took brutal vengeance against anyone they suspected of collaboration. He and his militia inflicted atrocities on the local population maiming civilians and killing without mercy thousands of children were abducted into slavery eiser could be a heads an organization in the provincial capital of gulu that helps victims of the l r a return to civilian life. Its a very very unique. Rebel group. That is to me and that is why they were strong and they remain fighting so long because. If you are ducted. Brainwash. You are made to commit crimes. Once and this crime you committed them right in your village at home sometimes you have made to kill your own parents now why you fail of coming back home after committing all those crimes and definitely you will feel that even a better down home trust it is a committed at home no one is going to receive me so this is their home for me i better be loyal to the people in the bush i should fight now i should find the level of staying here and that is where the war was a long time. The government held numerous peace talks with the n. R. A. Time and again the negotiations failed in the mid one nine hundred ninety s. Kone and his militia moved their base to sudan where they served as mercenaries for the Sudanese Government over and over again the l r a crossed back into uganda to kidnap more children whenever they needed to replenish their fighting force. In two thousand and two and an Army Launched a major offensive in sudan and forced the rebels to take part in new peace negotiations. The talks continued for four years but also failed. The hatred and mistrust was an obstacle as was cohen is unpredictable behavior. Was not. What was. After the talks collapsed kone vanished from the area he and his remaining followers first hid in a democratic republic of the congo and later in the Central African republic. After twenty years of terror and death a fragile peace returned to northern uganda. This comparative calm was disturbed when the n. R. A. Made headlines around the world as part of the coney twenty twelve internet campaign. Because the truth is. Dogs kids just like. U. S. Human rights activists drew on all the tools of social media to publicize the hunt for the ugandan warlord for twenty six the atrocities committed by county and the and already went viral the u. S. Government capitulated to the pressure sending one hundred special forces to the Central African republic to hunt for county but they fear all vanished as suddenly as it had appeared meanwhile for the people of northern uganda old wounds were reopened Joseph County and his band of followers remain in hiding. Its been over thirty thousand of them. When evelyn was adopted in one thousand nine hundred four her brother oscar was just eighteen years old one day in two thousand and four he suffered the same fate as his sister oscar was eighteen and a High School Student he was in the field harvesting mangoes when he was abducted by rebels. That theyve been living about from. Forget about your families forget about anything that you left at home from gruber on why you are now our members. And we shall get their way over just the way you are in our military when we are moving their troops that we used their live leg below people behind the both and put if they like you two or three kilometers away from the bigger group with intention that when one cloud as it were to follow that the road both were behind or have a comms opposite direction you should be rescued them up then lead that we had. For him movie he never wanted if you will killing people but getting people by day young showed yards for them and they just do it because sometimes the boys hes a better for. Us when they see killed use when you kill and throw him out with so do bush will not know. And he enjoyed it killing other people. And there. Are your you also you raided the village and. There are. People with you. And that happened regularly yeah. And if i want something i dont just ask i got to do what i want my duty i would surely get there. That are my age i dont. Mind. When fighting. They send. Young people a guys you know the one who was in the front so the doors will stay for a long time now for them day and i walk used to guide the ass wipe to. Oscar was assigned to dominate on gwens brigade a young commander on when was also adopted as a boy and grew up with the rebels he has been charged with war crimes before the International Criminal court. There was a political issue but. Instead going involving politicians that involve us children. So when were in their bush we were chatting when using the. Word setting that the reason why were using these kids kids can forget quickly you can forget quickly when you tell when you tell him if you killed. Or if you had to put it to example when you take it you. Dont fire then you tell him that this phrase is not good and the firebrands behind that kid will not take it and so when you use these kids to better. People they have das ideas and they can make their decision they know what is good or bad but kids when you instruct. Yes you will argue about that and i think that is fair that is right there you see us. Before you come off of there what have. I would not. And will never forget i would never. So jackson a charmer is returning from a long day in his fields his leg is painful he has an amputation but a charmer has many mouths to feed he spends his days working the land that once belonged to his ancestors the chairman lives here with two y. M. C. A. Brought with him from the bush and their sixteen children a charmer spent seventeen years with the l r a he was abducted himself a victim who became one of joes of tonys loyal followers even today many years after his return to civilian life he Still Believes in the sects murky ideology and insists that Joseph County was called upon by kong. Im gonna go on now and then im down there and i mean im only one. Thirty years ago a charmer was a young teacher in a local village the rebels ambushed his school in broad daylight. And a few of his students were taken captive. And. You can i would not have any chance of us getting hold of them. So i decided to spare my life and stay with me. Slowly i went i went to bed craning. As i was a bus to go to see no four i was included. At the commission. Those with. The. Spirit express is as. Easy a holy mission because the first thing is that what havent you prefer assizes comes to pass that is no like a concious the a lot it does not do it missing on their own accord everything is a done on disposition of the spirit when disobedience why does the killing it is done when disputed stops killing it is done when the spirit of stops fighting even if the enemies come there will be no fighting. During one skirmish his right leg was injured later in saddam it was amputated now disabled a charmer became an administrator and rebel headquarters by then he was an officer so i was several women were given to him the trauma Still Believes in counties twisted interpretation of the bible which he says justifies the kidnapping of children. During the temple mazas northwood was the group date willingly mothers tend to fight out and said i want all of this is there is to go at all but is this all went away as soon as. Bill good is the solution so he ducks anybody that is able to fight as muslims was fighting with the israelis in the same way it was. Actually it was a big force of about sixty then me. Yes the women were actually supposed to stay with us of the. Relations hit it bends if they were the woman is already a machine woman sees another commanded to be a wife so action all of one must all of them. Enough well whites actually and. Their dog. Age but if they were not of against the men its trade them to say that the woman is a shoe. I was given because if youre allergic amanda was get a bowl of keeping the woman you have given you may give it be given one according to do you have the ability when they get going because the final month will accept that you might be given a woman is even so if they find out one of getting two or three or four then that number of. Jackson a charm a feels no remorse no pangs of conscience he says he did nothing wrong and neither did james have county they just followed gongs orders. A charm has nothing to fear from punishment in two thousand uganda passed an amnesty act to help encourage abducted chan fighters to defect from the n. R. A. Jackson a charmer was able to return home without repercussions like many other commanders and older soldiers. From the jungle. In nineteen ninety eight. And its a very big program. We. Were set for his coming back. Walter. You know what those of you out there know my name. We spent a long time together in the bush. I said you my greetings wherever you are well maybe some of you would date. I saw you your death was in line. I gathered my courage and surrendered to the army. Many civilians are here take care of us they returned me to my family who greeted me warmly and i know that my Little Brothers and i are sitting next to the radio and listening to me. Please come home that is all i have to say my name is okuda balla. You know the kind of people left in the jungle do you see most of them people that i need to get it if i do get it at a very low level very low level primary one two three four leg thats so debasing was to use traditional music and introduce the music we made it inside to be that if he knows where the. It was to entertain sense taste educate convinced that the comeback they were told that the people here will really killed by the Government Forces that is what they were told so that they could continue fighting fighting for their part in rule really killed and yet here only suffering there was a really good life going on home production they should be. Medication for people who are sick. There. So some of these things they didnt even mean. In the mid one nine hundred ninety s. What again became a star in northern uganda the rebels only knew him and his show which he called come back home the officers usually dont allow the fighters to listen to the radio but many do it anyhow in secret. As an intermediary for the government they sent him into the bush to deliver messages to Joseph County to gain his trust and to prepare meetings. That he would call me because i was mandated by the state given i was given a separate one after now it. Is simply a form with. Air time a lot of heat so many talking baby government. Gets to help communicate. The communication was with a purpose. For. All times she has been so useful to me really because at least when someone could hear someone from on himself talking. If there would be something in. Hearing it was. Telling the children. At school so in. These classes so and so is doing well and they are gritty you your children around here would even say lets use to good will. It was even something good food a program used to know how to children and even. In the summer of one nine hundred ninety four after evelyn had been abducted from her mothers farm she was forced to march for many days the rebel showed the children how to use twigs as camouflage and hide from attacks from ugandan military helicopters. The children were told to make sure their foreheads and fingernails were covered since they reflected light eleven year old evelyn was forced to march on until the group reached the camp in south sudan. That evelyn was assigned to a leader Joseph County as a ting ting a housemaid she had to tend to the household and counties wives and many children. Shortly after her fourteenth birthday he took her as his wife. That are you aware we are poor and i had no choice. We went to the bush in the morning to search for food coney came to me and said today is the day you will become my wife whether you want to or not. I resisted and said no i dont want that. Then he took out his pistol and held it to my forehead when he got back he said if you refuse i will kill you. So i gave up i said do with me what you will. I just had my first period when he said that with a bang i waited for the second one but it didnt come instead i had pain thats when i realized i was pregnant. A woman from congo lived with us in the camp they told me she could help me get rid of the child adding she made a juice out of red chili peppers i drank it and had terrible pain. The pain kept getting worse and i bled. I knew i wanted to abort the child i had no idea how i would be able to care for it now when we were constantly on the march fleeing. I knew i was too young to be pregnant out. Of three times i tried to get rid of the child but it didnt work and i gave up and said ok then i will have this baby and if i die in childbirth and thats what was meant to be. Then. The birth was terrible it was a girl when i was afraid to nurse the baby when other people were watching i wanted to go play with the other children any time i went to the spring to get water i stayed there to play with the other children but i had to and my baby stayed at home and cried well that. Doesnt matter is Residential School for girls and as well known in northern uganda girls who when i spoke to attend school here know they have an opportunity to make something of themselves. Big tory and europe was one of the fortunate ones she was a very good student the girls werent permitted to leave the School Grounds the l r a militia often crossed the border from sudan to carry out rights. Its their first that kind of affected west bank of the. Ten of you have them that it came out that you know that this question and how everything up in a treaty you know the memory span is crammed well when i was in the us. That i know remains name is three those were every year they have the commemoration prayer for what ive been going to name a commemoration prayer as they close and it then thought popped up by every year then another thing is you had been there and then theyre talking about its spent day in captivity its something that the staff can only again remaining history. Her whole world is hers was hers was. Her home her was her. Hair her. So her hair her. Was that the events of october the ninth nine hundred ninety six made headlines around the world until that point few outside the region had heard of the atrocities being committed in uganda that changed with the abduction of one hundred thirty nine young girls from the Residential School of a bokeh. Her. Heritage and if. The rebels came under cover of darkness eleven armed militia members stormed the dormitory and took the girls hostage. Today there is a memorial to the girls in the courtyard. So when we move down in their money around nineteen ok andrea we started seeing says that when she kept on a good shape he may go shaking with them at around sixty one to where they first started in one place i think they had a lab maybe two and of a few of the guys to her sister did not choose who could do you may know what to do with combative have they chose it themselves. And its so out there that you have west on one side one hundred nine on one side. They insist that got. To come on to a full house to where i remain we only knew that when she was. First class and started talking to us we couldnt help ourselves i started riding on we screamed but that is so that was an issue spotted. So making me spend eight didnt eight years in captivity at that time i didnt know what can i say it could be so. Its personal for now i was abducted at a game i didnt know but imagine here is me today being given to a man marries older i didnt know what i was giving to he made thirty i was just a nice woman i had been seeing him and i were placed about their group being found out and when he called me. And very nice saying im use wife so its left to me. And that. Marks the beginning of everything. Ill have a day instead dance was not a good one. But it is still out there its me up to today. I. I dont know way i had to up then to no one people seven days looked at myself what comes in life of one individual at our home we are many i also may go im coming to the school thinking i was going to share my future. I need to end up in the bush and really what did it feel like ive never told. It to hurt me and i think oh. But that day end of the day. I have to accept the situation us and move on. I. Four years later victoria had her first child at your age of seventeen or eighteen and then she had another child during an attack by government soldiers she managed to flee after eight years in captivity her children were very young. Victoria decided not to tell them who their father is and how they came to be born so i have a plan of these yeah but im confused. When i dont need to jail is that thing where she will go in asking friends are we allowed school that when d. S. Gave this new i i want to be there. When they can appreciate that they are sure. This big im. Your guy and if they do they know if they get my that if. I get this. Big man back that. Is. Evelyn and her oldest daughter bucky to have experienced that stigma back home in our t. X. People said that back eater looks like tony. Thats when evelyn decided to send her daughter to a Residential School in the capital camp are almost four hundred kilometers away. The other one about. When bucky to was small i couldnt help remembering how i was forced to have this child john i saw coney hold the pistol to my head i couldnt feel love for her. Today i can i do what i can to make sure she is cared for. I know im the only person who can help her when i get up today i love bakita and i feel a terrible burden of guilt because i treated her so badly when she was little. But keiter was born in one thousand nine hundred ninety seven in a marked heart in an l. R. A camp in south sudan. Twas had. I didnt know that. You understand i just knew that was for us. I am a lot less. But great is avoided is when i lost my system i feel i remember everything that happened that much when i was two. And then i was home with my sister i met my. Mad. And then we saw airplanes coming Something Like that and people too cool i was a mess is that bad just dont know how she she took another direction i mean theres a young i didnt know what to do but i remember i still was like i still recall what happened how she when i watch us but. I try to forget but at night i dream of winnie even today im still searching for her. If she were still with me she would be in secondary school like her sister bakita. When he was never found in january two thousand and four shortly after the birth of path her daughter mercy Evidence Group came under attack. That day everything changed evelyn and her daughters were captured by government soldiers they survived im afraid. That was my worst day i met and they say it was my best day. Because i remember something maybe after two days or one day my memory given back to my sibling and then there was that she was to show us to not feeling well with that baby as well and so. Then. I remember she wanted to throw the baby and then a two then move to a show she threw her about to be time i kept on running with the baby. And then i think it was the next day but we slipped in some. Reason to live it in the following day yes. Would catch up. To say i was. I remember i was his favorite chain. Yeah he used to like me used to carry me a few things a few men that i know so remember on theyre doing met when i lost my sister that i remember what happened he was from showing Something Like that and then. The airplanes came and if you had gone to the bathroom i just saw him running with this towel thats all it was a lesson to me so you can recall that. To me he was a good father because he didnt do anything bad to me so personally i would not go against him because he has never done anything bad to me i am not a witness of this simple but he has done something bad to my mum rooney hed have future. But i. Know she suffered a lot although most of the suffering was before i when i became old enough like when i was too young does when she says she went through many things you have. Seen for many of those kidnapped by the n. R. A. As children liberation did not bring an end to their suffering through many victims of the abductions perform selfhelp groups like the womens Advocacy Network they make jewelry and for many the sale of the jewelry is their only source of income. To. War it was so hard to return to normal life. Sometimes i thought it would have been better if i had died in the bush. After i escaped from the n. R. A. I was in the Rehabilitation Center in. Everyone else receive visits from their family. I waited for my family to come and get me but no one came. Finally someone informed my mother and she came. She stayed a few day as and left and never came back. I ran away from the Rehabilitation Center and followed her to avalanche. She tried to get away from me. But i kept following her. Finally told it me jennifer im going to tell you once and for all i have crossed your name off the list of my children. Im no longer my daughter. Go find someone else you can call mother and then she turned around and left. Dominic on gwen was a commander of an l. R. A brigade he was abducted as a boy forced to take up a weapon and rose in the ranks nearly thirty years later in two thousand and fifteen he turned himself in to the ugandan army today he is standing trial at the International Criminal court in the hague was the former child soldier a victim of the l r as atrocities or a perpetrator. It is not for. The other the government. I know but always in the boys you have. You come back there is no problem with you we know you were not there. Right now when you hear. But when is there going to be heard. I dont think its. Coming back home and arrest warrant has also been issued for Joseph County tony is still free in hiding in Uganda People are trying to exponential him from their memories. Baloch he destroyed my life in those eleven years i was in that wish i could have done so many other things with my life. And i didnt make it today im doing better and i dont need to fight for my daily survival should he be punished for what he did i forgave him a long time ago Everything Else is up to god to decide. I didnt see him doing that but maybe was commanding other people to do that so i i dont have the message to say he is right because to me he was good to me. Its because. For every bad thing that you do. Before it. If. And. Its ok if me i have moved to. What they were both live i dont my. You ever read this stuff where i was things may have been we will never go. Back tory a wants to attend university but she doesnt have the money she hasnt decided yet whether shell tell her children who the father is. Is out of work he says he wouldnt be able to manage a degree or proper job training ever since his time in captivity hes been unable to concentrate. Evelyns daughter back eater hes living in camp are under a different name she wants to study law and become a lawyer evelyn hopes to find a good psychologist she says her mind is no longer works the way i used to shes written a book about her life which has sold a few copies but not enough to make a living. Today evelyn lives with mubarak who was also abducted as a child by the l r a they have two children together. The victims have received no compensation for the last years they spent in the bush for the loss of their families and for raising the children they were forced to bear. Joseph coney is still out there somewhere an evil spirit they say who should remain where he is is. This. Being. The worlds most expensive cars how is harvested. In the small of a right is five thousand five hundred years old but still going strong thanks to that. Their Motto Quality not quantity anticipated up to date a single day top of the fence up to. Three thousand and thirty minutes to the. Global inequality. What does inequality mean. Connected. To the media. Joining the discussion and how to. Digest as a Global Media Forum twenty eight. Time for an upgrade of. Your close. Up close with. Design highlights you can make yourself. Tips and tricks that will turn your home into something special. A great yourself with g. W. Interior design channel on you tube. You would like to be our fighters want to start families to become farmers or engineers every one of them has a plan for your children. Learning is just that the children who have always been the boy. And those that will follow are part of a new process. They could be the future of. Colombia. Granting opportunity global news that matters. U. S. Secretary of state mike pompei o has said the u. S. Could help rebuild north koreas economy if the country gives up its Nuclear Weapons pompei made the comment as a News Conference with his south korean counterpart ahead of a planned summit with the north he added that robust verification of denuclearization would be needed. A Senior Iranian cleric has threatened israeli cities with annihilation as tensions saw between the two countries in