We’ve had so much to celebrate over the past few weeks, including the largest group of returnees since 2008. And the good news keeps on coming:
The Incident: August 4, a 16-year-old Congolese boy escaped from the LRA after 5 years in captivity. In 2009, he and his brother were abducted from a community near Dungu, DR Congo (DRC). This was during the height of LRA violence in DRC.
Since then, he has served as a porter for a group of 23 LRA members from DRC, Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda. This group is comprised of 6 men, 10 women and 7 children, and they are required to speak Acholi and Sango. The boy speaks these languages, along with Lingala and Zande (common in DRC). The group was last reported near Yalinga, CAR with 7 guns and ammunition.
The boy attempted to escape while the group was in Yalinga. However, some community members reacted in fear, forcing him to flee. After 6 days in the bush, he finally entered Nzako, CAR and safely surrendered.
Analysis: This incident is encouraging, but it also highlights the continued need for community sensitization. Yalinga’s hostile reaction to the defector is an all-too-common occurrence in LRA-affected areas. Because Kony’s army started in Uganda and then moved on to central Africa, many communities aren’t aware of the history of the conflict, or that most LRA members were abducted and forced to commit violent attacks. Communities are also often unable to distinguish between an LRA member trying to surrender and someone who intends to attack them. Thus, when LRA members have an opportunity to defect, they run the risk of being sent away or attacked by a community they attempt to escape to.
This is why programs like our Community Defection Committees are so essential. We inform civilians about how to identify LRA defectors, so they can safely receive them. Once trained, these committees take the lead in their communities to strategize their own counter-LRA efforts, including the creation of original defection messaging.
*Defector’s face has been blurred to protect his identity
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