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V. CHILD RECRUITMENT BY UGANDAN FORCES
The Recruitment of Children into the Local Defense Units and Their Use by the UPDF
The salary for a soldier in the LDUs is 40,000 Ugandan shillings (Ush) a month, (U.S. $23) while regular UPDF receive between 90,000 and 150,000 Ush (U.S. $51 and U.S. $86 respectively). For many boys from families impoverished by the war and without a source of income, the promise of a salary is sufficient incentive to join the LDUs. The LDUs come under the military authority of the UPDF, although salaries for LDUs are paid through the Ministry of the Interior, while salaries for the UPDF come from the Ministry of Defense. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch, many LDU salaries are paid late or not at all. According to Lt. Paddy Ankunda, the public relations officer for the Army's Fourth Division, candidates for the LDUs must be at least eighteen years old, have completed their education to level S4 or above (four years of secondary education), be in good health, and have a recommendation from their LCI (local councilor).24 He stated that the responsibility for the recruitment process lies with the LCIIIs-the subcounty leaders-and that verification of age is the responsibility of local leaders who presumably know the candidates and their families.25 According to local councilors questioned on LDU candidature, there is a both an official and unofficial recruitment process. The official recruitment is conducted much as described by Lt. Ankunda above, drawing largely from retired military and former security personnel. An unofficial recruitment however, bypasses the local councilors, with men and underage recruits reporting directly to military posts. Age and education verification as well as letters of recommendation are neither presented nor demanded. One local councilor responsible for an area just outside of Gulu town became aware of this "unofficial" recruitment, when parents of the boys came and berated him because they believed he had recommended their children to serve. The youngest boy recruited from his parish in 2002 was twelve years old. When this local councilor approached the barracks on several occasions to protest, he was told that the boys were not there or were fighting for the defense of their country. The leader of an IDP camp outside of Gulu town also reported that boys approach the barracks directly for recruitment, skirting the recommendation requirement. However, in this instance, the councilor working in his area was able to secure the release of some of the boys.26 Representatives of the Church of Uganda provided Human Rights Watch with details related to twenty-two boys and young men, aged fifteen to eighteen, who were recruited into the LDUs and subsequently escaped from the UPDF.27 The recruitment took place in Nebbi district in March or April of 2002. Some of the recruits responded to radio announcements regarding LDU recruitment and were promised that after training, they would be returned to their home areas. Others heard that the UPDF was offering scholarships for secondary boarding schools. Both groups were loaded into trucks together with up to 300 other boys, and taken to the Fourth Division headquarters in Gulu, where they reported that all of their documentation, including identification cards and birth certificates, was burned. The recruits were then taken to a UPDF training camp called "Waligo" and quartered in the barracks of Ngomoromo in Lamwo county in Kitgum district, near the Sudan border. The boys told the church representatives that the military training lasted a month, and that during that time, many trainees died from disease, lack of food, and other hardships. Over time, they said, they became weaker and weaker, and began making more mistakes, resulting in more frequent punishments. In some cases, recruits who tried to escape were reportedly killed. Trainees reported that they were given military uniforms, but no papers, matriculation number, or salary. Eighteen of the twenty-two boys who have returned had escaped from the training camps in Uganda. The remaining four were sent to Sudan with other boys and young men to assist with Operation Iron Fist. These four were not used as fighters but carried communications and served as porters. They later escaped from Sudan in June and July 2002. Church leaders believe that the recruitment of children in 2002 is linked to the beginning of Operation Iron Fist:
Church leaders believe that large-scale recruitment of children, like that in Nebbi, may have ended, in part because of protests by the Church. However, other reports indicate that smaller-scale recruitment of child recruitment into the LDUs continues. An LCI, a local councilor representing an area near Gulu, told Human Rights Watch that in December 2002 many boys responded to radio announcements calling for new recruits for the LDUs. He said that boys responded because of the promised salary and "out of frustration" with their situation, and often joined without the permission of their parents. He reported that boys were trained at military positions in Binya parish or in Acet, both in Omoro county, Gulu district. He estimates that at least fifty boys had been recruited from Acet and Awer camps in December. He also provided specific details of seven boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen, from Omoro, Nwoya, and Aswa counties, whose parents reported that they had been recruited into the LDUs with the knowledge of local authorities. 29 The councilor said that some parents try to get their children back through LCIs or LCIIIs, but have been told by soldiers that if their son has been in training for two weeks or more, he cannot be released. He knew of about ten cases where boys had run away from the LDUs after enlisting, but had been retrieved and taken back by soldiers. He had also been told by some families that their sons had reportedly been killed by the LRA during battles.30 Recruitment of Former LRA Abductees
The children who escape, are captured, or released from the LRA usually pass through UPDF detachments or barracks before transfer to the Child Protection Unit and finally, the rehabilitation centers. Children spend on average one week in the barracks, depending on the location of the military outpost, before transfer to the CPUs in Gulu or Kitgum towns. While at the barracks and awaiting transportation and safe passage to the CPUs, UPDF soldiers question the children on their activities, the LRA structure, and recent LRA maneuvers. Boy abductees are also asked to join forces with the UPDF at this time. In barracks in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader districts, soldiers asked the majority of the boys interviewed for this report to enlist in their ranks. The youngest asked was thirteen years old. Although no instances of force were reported, soldiers nonetheless knew the ages of the boys from their questioning and that underage recruitment is in violation of Ugandan and international law. Boys, some of whom had spent years with the LRA undergoing the hardships detailed above, were tempted with promises of respect, money, new uniforms, and a better life. None of the boys who were interviewed by Human Rights Watch at the rehabilitation centers agreed to join, but they gave credible details on others who did. One military detachment where this type of recruitment was repeatedly mentioned was Achol-Pii barracks in Pader district.
Sixteen-year-old John W. spent nine days in the barracks at Achol-Pii in January. "The soldiers would lure us into accepting to join the armed forces of Uganda. They would say things like, `We will treat you well, give you money and food and a new uniform. Why waste your time going home and doing nothing?' At one point, soldiers approached me with a newly pressed uniform and 80,000 Ush (U.S. $45). They told me that I could have this money and clothes right now, and more later if I agreed to join them." Mark T. spent one week in early December at Achol-Pii:
Thirteen-year-old Martin P. initially agreed to "help" the UDPF find the LRA but the commander intervened. "I spent two weeks at the UPDF detachment at Amuru in Gulu district. The soldiers there asked me lots of questions about the LRA, just like you. They asked if I could take them to where the LRA was located, but once the commander of the post learned I was going out with the soldiers he intervened. He refused, saying that `this boy could not be taken back out there.' He saw that I didn't really want to go." Once the children pass through the rehabilitation centers, they resettle in their home areas or in new locations. NGO and civic leaders in Gulu report of cases where UPDF soldiers recruit and harass children who have been resettled. In an interview with Human Rights Watch, one counselor at a child rehabilitation center expressed surprise at seeing children who had passed through the center, now wearing uniforms of the UPDF. Church leaders have documented and brought to the attention of military authorities cases where UPDF soldiers approach formerly abducted boys and men in their home areas. As at the barracks, they are urged to `help' with UPDF operations in southern Sudan and offered monetary benefits. In one case, a UPDF officer insulted a wounded child, suggesting he could no longer perform at school and should join the army instead.31 Boys who return from the LRA are often seasoned fighters, knowledgeable about LRA activities, and are understandably valuable to the UPDF in the fight against the LRA. They are also malnourished, abused, and often arrive with only the clothes on their back. In a physically and psychologically weakened state, they may fall prey to temptations from the soldiers and the promise of money and a new life. 22 See also Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Global Report 2001, and Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Child Soldiers 1379 Report, November 2002. 23 Human Rights Watch interview with a representative of the Church of Uganda, Gulu, February 8, 2003. 24 Local Councils are elected bodies that start at the village level (LCI), and progress through the parish (LCII), to the sub-county (LCIII), county (LCIV), and district level (LCV). 25 Human Rights Watch interview with Lt. Paddy Ankunda, public relations officer, UPDF Fourth Division Infantry Headquarters, Gulu, February 5, 2003. 26 Human Rights Watch interviews, Gulu, February 5 & 9, 2003. 27 Human Rights Watch interview with Church of Uganda representatives, February 6, 2003. These representatives conducted direct interviews with the recruits in June and July of 2002. 28 Ibid. See Ogen Kevin Aliro, "Records Show 10,000 'Ghosts' Found in UPDF," The Monitor, May 22, 2002; "UPDF Ghosts That Will Not Go Away," The Monitor, June 10, 2002. 29 Human Rights Watch interview with a local councilor (LCI) from Pece division, Gulu, February 5, 2003; additional documentation provided to Human Rights Watch, February 28, 2003. 31 Human Rights Watch interview, Gulu, February 5, 2003. Letters in possession of Human Rights Watch researchers.
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