Black, yellow and red decorations adorn streets in Uganda during last year’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Willy Charles Okello remembers when his friends were learning how to ride their bicycles. He also remembers that this was when the Lord’s Resistance Army abducted them.
That was Independence Day in 1998.
“[The LRA] knows that, on certain days, people are very peaceful. They are celebrating and do what they can to forget about the LRA,” he said.
Troops would often use public holidays, when family and community members are gathered together, as a chance to raid villages and abduct people.
“People are celebrating, children are playing freely and they are happy,” Willy said. “They can get a lot of people at home because every family is together.”
But today, Uganda is celebrating its 51st Independence Day. And while the threat of LRA attacks remains very real in other parts of central Africa, northern Uganda is facing a period of peace and rehabilitation.
Willy recently spoke with an LRA defector returning home to celebrate with his family for the first time since his abduction 15 years ago. In the bush, LRA combatants rarely celebrate public holidays. Willy said that LRA officials believe they are a specific target on these days when they may be expected to relax and celebrate. They also lack the resources to celebrate with a nice meal, as Ugandans typically do.
“Now that [this defector] is going home, he is very expectant. He could remember back when he was young and how he would celebrate with his family,” Willy said. “He was still a child at that time. He is expecting this one to be even better because it’s a combination of independence and celebration of his coming back.”
For this reason, among others, Independence Day remains an especially poignant celebration for many Ugandans.
“I was born at a time when the colonial government was not there, but, in northern Uganda especially, we really celebrate Independence because people are free from a lot of slavery and a lot of bad things that have happened in our history,” Willy said.
Think people should hear about this?