In this little known war, a rogue Army has abducted 50,000 children over nearly two decades and forced them to maim, torture and kill civilians with sticks, machetes and razor blades. Today, because of the ongoing war, people in the region live in fear, despair and near starvation.

Jan Egeland, under secretary general for the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs and emergency relief office, has called northern Uganda “The biggest forgotten, neglected humanitarian crisis in the world.”
But it hasn’t been forgotten or neglected by a small group of Catholics from Denver’s neighboring Loyola and Curé d’Ars parishes, who are raising money for northern Ugandan trauma relief and planning a trip to the region next spring. The group plans a $20-per person fundraiser beginning at 8 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Mercury Café, featuring a silent auction of African art and other valuables and a concert by Phoenix Rising,
“It’s easy to sit here and think of 100,000 things that need to be done,” said Curé d’Ars parishioner Skeet Johnson, an attorney with the Colorado Public Defender’s office and a member of Phoenix Rising. “But each of us is one person. We can’t do all things. We have to stay on target, and our target is dealing with the (Catholic) catechists who are working there.”

Johnson and about a dozen others made plans for their relief trip after watching a disturbing and graphic documentary about the forgotten war, in which children tell of being abducted and forced to kill civilians and members of their own communities.

The conflict began in 1986, when Yoweri Museveni became the new president of Uganda. Joseph Kony, expressing concern that the Acholi people of northern Uganda would lose influence under Museveni’s reign, pledged to overthrow the Museveni government and formed what he called the Lord’s Resistance Army, or the LRA. Kony promised the Acholi people his army would defend the teachings of the Ten Commandments and Jesus, but he was later seen practicing witchcraft and celebrating Islamic traditions.

Kony built his army by abducting children, arming them, and teaching them to torture and kill for the sake of killing. His focus quickly became the Acholi people, rather than the Museveni government, because he said the public was siding with President Museveni.

“We have come to see him (Kony) as a butcher,” said one former LRA hostage/soldier featured in the documentary. “He is killing his own people. He has complete disregard for human life.”
One young teenage boy in the film told of taking orders to beat and kill seven adults with a large stick. After killing them, he was ordered to eat their brains.

A horribly maimed woman interviewed in the film describes LRA abductees slowly cutting off her ears, her lips and other parts of her body with razor blades after they killed her husband.

Experts on the conflict say the Ugandan government has been placed in a no-win situation: to stop the maiming and killing, it must kill soldiers who are mostly child hostages.

“The government of Uganda has not protected the children,” explained Regan Okumu, a member of the Ugandan Parliament, in the film. “When they (the Ugandan Army) kill the children, they say they are killing terrorists. When they rescue the children, they say they are rescuing them from terrorists.”

Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama said the children who comprise the LRA’s soldiers “are innocent people — hostages” forced to attack their own people.

Archbishop Odama said in the documentary that amnesty has been the only policy that has shown any promise of bringing peace to the region. He said the government and the Acholi people have embarked upon a program in which LRA abductees and leaders alike are offered full amnesty for peacefully retreating from the Bush and integrating into the community. Even Kony has been offered full amnesty in return for denouncing his war and the abductions.

To date, more than 200,000 people have been slaughtered in the civil war. More than 60,000 children are categorized as “night commuters,” meaning they wander the countryside on foot all night long, in large groups, trying to avoid abduction by the LRA.

“Some of the children there are orphans who don’t even know where home is,” said Loyola parishioner Marcellina Otii, who has lived in Denver for 26 years since leaving Uganda with her husband, Albert.
Though the amnesty program has given hope to those seeking peace for northern Uganda, Albert Otii said LRA leaders don’t believe they’ll be given amnesty once they release all of the abducted children because they’ll have no leverage with the Acholi people or the Ugandan government.

Catholics planning the Uganda trip say they want to bring support to the full time Catholic catechists who are working to reduce the trauma suffered by the abducted children, the people they maimed, and the survivors of those who’ve been killed. Johnson said he hopes to raise enough money to purchase several bicycles that would help catechists get around more quickly.

“As we saw in the documentary, most everyone gets around on foot,” Johnson said.

They hope their efforts, though miniscule relative to the magnitude of the war, will at least bring northern Uganda a token of love from Denver.

“When we give assistance, I hope they can see it as the work of Jesus Christ,” Marcellina Otii said. “We’ll try to bring an awareness that in building a spiritual community it’s possible to overcome the worst trauma imaginable.”