Først var Florence Ayot slave i Joseph Konys blodtørstige milits “Herrens Modstandshær” (LRA) – så slap hun fri og kom hjem til sit lokalsamfund i Uganda, kun for at blive mødt af skepsis og afstandtagen, som også ramte hendes børn.
GULU, 14 June 2012 (IRIN): When Florence Ayot escaped from the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army in 2005 after over 15 years in captivity, she was overjoyed to be free, but the seven years she has been back have been more than difficult – most of her family is dead and the local community has been hostile to her and her children.
While in the bush, Ayot was forced to become the wife of Dominic Ongwen, an LRA commander who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity together with rebel leader Joseph Kony and three others.
She told IRIN about her time in the bush and her struggles since returning.
“I was abducted (bortført) in 1989 when I was just nine years old. I was moving with my uncle when the rebels captured us. They killed my uncle. I was beaten and forced to walk for long distances to different areas in the bush”.
“While in the bush, there was brainwashing and ritual killings every time new people were abducted to join the rebel group. This was aimed at initiating and scaring us from escaping. There were threats of death all the time”.
“After trekking hundreds of kilometres while in captivity, I was one day handed to Obwong Kijura [an LRA top commander] as his wife. He abused and used me as a sex slave for all the four to five years I was with him. He impregnated me (gjorde gravid). Unfortunately my child died after I gave birth”.
“Vi levede som vilde dyr”
“After Kijura was killed in a fierce battle with Ugandan soldiers in 1993, I was transferred to Dominic [Ongwen] as his second wife. The suffering continued. A year later, I gave birth to his son, whom he named Lagony, meaning ‘back to God’. I produced another three children with him while still in the bush, two girls and one boy”.
“The life in the bush was easy since I was a wife of a top commander. I had enough food and everything I needed; the lower rebels would get food for their commanders. However, we lived like wild animals. We were always on the move”.
“We were running up and down every time to avoid attacks from government forces. I feared for my life. I knew I would be killed one day as the battles continued. But as a commander’s wife, I was heavily guarded and had no chance to escape”.
“As the battles raged, life became difficult. I survived under God’s mercy. I was shot four times at different locations in Gulu, Kitgum and South Sudan. I was shot on my right thigh (lår), one near the buttocks, my hand and head”.
“I suffered as there was no proper treatment in the bush. I had to struggle as we were moving day and night. This was the daily business”.
Da lejligheden til flugt endelig bød sig
“When my son Lagony was killed in an army attack at our base in Layo Ajon, Lalogi, Gulu District, in early March 2005, I knew I would be the next culprit to follow. I started to hatch a plan to escape”.
“My chance to escape just came three weeks after the killing of my son. On 28 March our convoy bumped into Ugandan soldiers at Rack-koko in Pader District and a fierce battle ensued”.
“We scattered in different directions. As I was running with my two bodyguards and children, we found one woman who was in her garden. We told her that we wanted to surrender. She took us to an army detachment”.
“When the soldiers realized that I was a wife of a top LRA commander, they immediately took me to Rachael Rehabilitation Centre in Lira District”.
“I stayed there for one week before I was transferred to World Vision Rehabilitation Centre in Gulu, where I lived for seven months undergoing rehabilitation and counselling”.
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/HOV/95645/Florence-Ayot-My-children-are-always-reminded-that-their-father-is-a-notorious-rebel-commander
Begynd fra: “I was only visited by Dominic’s….”
