Amony: Kony wanted to commit suicide

“When I ask if it wouldn’t have been better for her to let him kill himself, Amony thinks carefully about her answer for a few minutes.
“First, in my beliefs, suicide is wrong. Besides, if he had shot himself, his bodyguards would have killed me, thinking I was responsible for his death. Earlier, during one of our private moments, Ladit (Kony) had told me that I was a lucky woman and one day I would make it back home. He even wished me well.”
In that moment, as she consoled Kony, she remembered his words.

“I had hope that I would escape another day. If I had let him die, I would not have outlived him for more than an hour.”
Although Amony never loved Kony, she says he was a considerate husband. She even manages to laugh at the memory.
“Ladit did not want to show favouritism. He would give us gifts that benefited the other wives. He would give some wives a gift, and then a few days later, would give the remaining wives other gifts.”
And to show his love, Kony’s wives never engaged in the fighting, although they received training.

Surviving in the bush
In Sudan, Kony’s group moved from Torit to Parjok, then Juba.
“In Parjok we lived in bungalows but in Juba we went back to grass-thatched houses. The rebels would go to the market to purchase necessities, just like other residents, but when the UPDF learnt of our presence we shifted to Nisitu.”

Life in the wild
In Nisitu, their Arab friends would bring necessities that would last two months, until the next delivery. The rebels also began farming.
“We stayed there for four years and it was like living at home. We, the wives, would wake up early to go to our gardens, then cook.”
The UPDF followed the rebels to Nisitu and began attacking the area. Taking advantage of these attacks, many abductees escaped. This was in 2002, when UPDF launched Operation Iron Fist against the LRA bases in Southern Sudan.

On August 18, 2004, Amony was in the garden digging when she began hearing gunshots nearby.
“I had left my young daughter at home. Dropping my hoe, I ran back to the hut. It was a shootout between the rebels, UPDF, and some Arabs. When I got home, my daughter was gone. Of the three groups, I do not know who abducted her.”
To this day, Amony does not know the whereabouts of her child. There were terrible experiences in the bush, but she says this was the worst. It also opened her mind to the possibility of escape.

The daring escape
A few months after her daughter’s disappearance, a heavily pregnant Amony escaped Kony’s camp, with her remaining daughter, unnoticed.
“I just ran away and walked to Brig Owor Lakati’s camp. He thought I was still part of the rebels and he welcomed me. I stayed with him for four months until January 2005, when I gave birth to my daughter.”

In 2005, Owor Lakati, nicknamed “the butcher” by returnee abductees, was based in Palabek (currently in Lamwo District). He was chief-of-staff of the LRA and fourth-in-command. He was killed in a shootout with the UPDF.
On January 11, Kony sent 11 rebels to look for his wife and they found her in Lakati’s camp.
“I pleaded with them to give me a week to recover from the delivery. Meanwhile, I planned with other abductees – 10 boys – to escape. On the day we set off, the boys walked slowly, lagging behind, claiming to be tired.”

Suddenly, there were gunshots. On instinct, Amony, cradling her two children, ran into the direction where the gunfire was coming from.
“The rebels tried to follow me but the shooting scared them. I continued running into the gunfire and the boys followed me. Some were killed by the bullets, and seeing this, the others run back to the rebels.”
According to Amony, the UPDF, realising that the group was escaping, sent a helicopter to collect them. Of the 11, only three were rescued.
The UPDF took Amony to the 4th Division Barracks in Gulu Town where her voice was recorded to reach out to her relatives. Later, she was taken to Gulu Independent Hospital where she received treatment for two weeks.

Reuniting with her family
The recording was aired on radio and although most of her relatives were dead, her mother was informed of the recording three days after it aired.
Amony shakes her head and sighs. “When I saw my mother, I almost ran mad. It was like a dream. I approached her and she started crying. I had to console and comfort her. I had seen so much in the war that I could not cry.”

However, when they reached home in Atiak, Amony began crying, remembering the past.
“I cried for two days. Everyone was happy to see me but they were also crying. Three of my siblings had been killed in the Atiak massacre.”
On April 20, 1995 Vincent Otti had led a group of about 300 rebels to his home village. They slaughtered hundreds of villagers in what came to be known as the Atiak massacre.
Amony’s family had already performed burial rituals for the daughter they had not seen in 11 years. Now they performed a cleansing ceremony, where she stepped over a raw egg to rid her of the evil from the bush.

Later, she joined Gulu Support the Children Organisation (GUSCO), a rehabilitation centre for LRA returnees. She was under their care for six months.
Happy about their daughter’s return, Amony’s relatives refused to accept her two daughters.
“Many of my people had died in the insurgency and those who remain blame the girls’ father. To this day, they have never accepted them as part of the family.”

2006 Juba Peace Talks

Amony insists Joseph Kony wanted peace by the time the talks were held in Juba.
“I remember him telling me that he wanted a ceasefire but every time the rebels encountered the UPDF, the soldiers would fire at them. So he changed his mind and continued fighting.”
She was part of the government delegation to Juba during the peace talks with the LRA.

“I did not want to go but I was convinced by the late Col Walter Ochora and Brig Otema Awany (UPDF Chief of Logistics and Engineering). They said my presence would convince the rebels that the returnees were being reintegrated into society.”
Brig Awany, at the time of the peace talks, was a Colonel and the commander of the UPDF 4th Division.
In Juba, Amony came face to face with Kony for the last time.

“When I went to greet him, he asked if I thought the delegates were good people. I told him they were good but I did not know what was in their hearts.”
Kony then asked her, loudly – for the benefit of the others – why she had run away from him.
“I told him I did not run away, but had been captured by the UPDF. I was still terrified of him. I thought he would take me back with him.”
Amony says that although the peace talks had a chance of succeeding, Kony was receiving many phone calls on his satellite phone from people inside Uganda and abroad.

“Some were advising him not to sign the peace deal, saying it was a plot by the government to eventually kill him. Others were telling him to sign. In the end he was confused and did not know what to do.”
Amony declines to name the persons who telephoned the wanted LRA leader.
On whether Kony is a spent force, Amony agrees saying he is aged.
“Unless he has a younger commander to take over (the command of the LRA). It is difficult to be certain though, because anything is possible. Kony did not go to Central Africa Republic using a car or an aeroplane. He went on foot, and he can return on foot.”

Life now
When her family rejected her children, society followed suit. When the older girl was studying at Upper Nile Institute For Appropriate Technology (UNIFAT) Primary School in Gulu, the teachers used to abuse her.
Ironically, UNIFAT was started to offer education to returnee children, night commuters, and former LRA sex slaves.
“The teachers taunted her, reminding her of her father’s atrocities,” Amony says, sadly, adding that she was forced to take her children to Kampala to live with a relative.
“She knows who her father is but she does not tell her friends. The younger girl is now asking me who her father is. She is aware that my current husband is not her father. I keep on postponing that conversation. But I know one day we will have to talk about it.”

When she settled down and joined St Monica Tailoring School, Amony met another returnee, Isa Mubarak, who was studying at Gulu Central High School.
“We never met while in the bush because he was under another commander but we decided to live together as husband and wife.”
In the early days, Amony battled stigmatisation from former and new friends.

“Once someone got to know my background, they would make excuses not to be seen with me. It was painful but now it is not as much as it was then. Since I joined WAN, I have made new friends.”
Evelyn is the chairperson of WAN, a forum founded in 2011, that brings together more than 500 women who have been affected by the war in northern Uganda. These women advocate for justice and acknowledgement and accountability for the sexual and gender-based violations inflicted upon them.

Through WAN, an initiative of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), Amony has interacted with other women in community dialogues and on radios, who share her experiences.
“I have new friends and a purpose in life, to help returnee women adjust to life in the society.”
As we conclude the interview, Amony has to rush back to the workshop she was facilitating. She asks us to spread her story, saying that maybe someone will read it, let go of their bitterness, and learn to live again.

I Am Evelyn Amony: Reclaiming My Life from the Lord’s Resistance Army

I then told him, “If you die because of your wife and son, then you may as well kill everyone in the bush. They are here because of you. If you kill yourself, it is as good as killing all of them. No one here is capable of leading us home.”
That day Kony told me to make him tea and juice. Kony said that everything in this world happens for a reason.

He told me that he was not going to shoot me; he believed that I loved him and that I was strong. He said it is hard to be a prophet. He said that God had tempted him.
We talked a lot. He said that one day we would overthrow the government and live a good life and that I would be the first wife in his home because I did not leave him when he was going through such a difficult time. He said he would try his best to take care of me so that my future would be bright.

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As carried in the Guardian