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'Girl Soldiers' Central Themes in the Lives of Formerly Abducted

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'Girl Soldiers' Central Themes in the Lives of Formerly Abducted Understanding Former ‘Girl Soldiers’ Central Themes in the Lives of Formerly Abducted Girls in post- Conflict Northern Uganda Allen Kiconco A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of African Studies and Anthropology (DASA) School of History and Culture The University of Birmingham January 2015 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Despite the heightened focus on the effects of war on girls, they are still being inappropriately grouped under the larger rubric of ‗women‘ or ‗females‘. Since the distinctions in girls‘ and women‘s war experiences are not yet well understood (McKay, 2006), this research argues that gender analysis is crucial to effective development as it relates to young soldiers. It also advocates a distinct analytical focus on girls who exit armed forces as young women (at times as a result of having children). One must go beyond the universalistic narrative of ‗women‘s‘ experiences of armed conflict and political violence and focus on the experiences of specific categories of females. Therefore, the girls‘ war experiences as young and, later, older girls require specific attention. This attention will both contribute to a balanced debate on young soldiers participating directly in armed conflicts and address the issues and needs which are important to the reintegration of girl soldiers exiting fighting forces. The present study is about formerly abducted girls in Acholi sub region, northern Uganda. As adolescents and teenagers, they were abducted by the Lord‘s Resistance Army and many returned to their communities with children fathered by the fighters. This thesis systematically looks at their socio-economic reintegration process, experiences and progress over the years. Through a series of 57 in-depth and 12 group interviews, this qualitative study explores long-term reintegration from the participants‘ perspectives. The study identifies and analyses the central themes in their lives, including: physical and mental scars of abduction and life in captivity, stigmatisation, marriage complexities, and economic hardships. To date, the growing body of reintegration literature has focused on the first one or two years after exiting an armed group, and long-term reintegration studies are still limited. Therefore, through these themes, the thesis contributes to the conceptualisation of reintegration and understanding of the participants‘ past and current life situations. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to appreciate all the women (and other participants) for sharing your experiences, lives, homes and communities which made this research possible. It was a privilege and pleasure working with you. You remain my greatest sources of inspiration and I dedicate this thesis to you, Apwoyo matek! My heart-felt appreciation goes to Christopher Obey, my brother, mentor and financier. Pursuing a higher research degree would not have been possible without you. Your guidance and friendship have been my pillars on this epic PhD journey. You believed in my capacity when I was not sure I could actually achieve this goal. Thank you for having such great faith in me and continuing to sacrifice a lot to ensure I accomplish my dreams. It was a lonely and difficult journey but I am glad I had you to talk, confide and cry to. Whenever I came to you, you never asked me that dreadful question of ‗when are you finishing?‘ but you were always encouraging me to go on. You will be pleased to know that my PhD adventure is finally over and my life resumes again. This achievement is dedicated to you as well. My special thanks to Reginald Cline-Cole, my supervisor. Thank you for the intellectual advice and guidance throughout the research process. Even when I had to return to Uganda at a critical time of my writing up, your support all the time gave me confidence and courage to go on. I always knew I could rely on your consistent support and guidance. Thank you for your patience and understanding. It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. My gratitude and appreciation go to Sabine Lee, who took a genuine interest in me and the research. Right from the start of this research, you have been there, providing intellectual advice, suggesting events I could attend and where I could present my work. Even when the research journey became tough, particularly in the last stages, the quick and encouraging feedback on the chapters usually got me back on track. Thank you for not giving up on me. It has been wonderful and enlightening sharing this research journey with you. A massive thanks must go to Benedetta Rossi who worked tirelessly with me in the final stages of this research. I am so grateful for your extensive comments and words of support. I really appreciate all the time you spent helping me get the thesis ready for the final submission. Your 3 suggestions are appreciated, as are the comments of the examiners, Kate Skinner and Professor Ray Bush. Thanks to Adam Branch for his assistance while I prepared for fieldwork in Kampala. Your support and effort to ensure I affiliated with Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), through which I applied for a research clearance, was helpful. I am also grateful to you for creating time to go through some chapter drafts and advising me accordingly. I am also indebted to Martin Nthakomwa, Doris Goedl and Eunice Apio. Thank you all for taking the time to read through some of the rough drafts and providing me with great feedback. I have to thank my friends in Kampala, Acholi and England. Friends and colleagues in Acholi, particularly at KICWA, genuinely welcomed me and made sure I was comfortable throughout the field study. Through your friendship, insights and support, fieldwork was a success and you made this research adventure possible. Thank you to Kenneth Onen and Diana Jean Angom, my research assistants. Your discipline, knowledge/experience and hard work made the research team very competent. Field work would have been more difficult without your patience, commitment and enthusiasm. For all the people I met and stayed with, in Kitgum, Lamwo, Pader and Gulu, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Although many people participated in the creation of this thesis, for any mistakes and errors, I alone remain responsible. 4 ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................3 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................9 1.1 The persistence of stigma: reintegration as a lifetime process. .......................................... 11 1.2 Not just ‗passive victims‘: revealing girls‘ agency in the reintegration process ................. 14 1.3 Positionality ..................................................................................................................... 19 1.3.1 Gender, Age and Background .................................................................................... 23 1. 4 Research Methods ........................................................................................................... 25 1.4.1 In-depth Interviews.................................................................................................... 26 1.4.2 Focus Group Discussions and Purposely Selected Persons ......................................... 30 1.5 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER TWO: THE WAR IN NORTHERN UGANDA ................................................. 35 2.1 Uganda: Socio-Economic Context ................................................................................... 36 2.2 Post-Independence Political Violence .............................................................................. 40 2.3 Rise of the Holy Spirit Movements .................................................................................. 43 2.3.1 The Lord‘s Resistance Army Insurgency ................................................................... 45 Rational Agenda, Secrecy and More Violence ................................................................ 45 The LRA‘s Adolescent Abduction Practices ................................................................... 49 2.5 Forced Displacement ....................................................................................................... 53 2.6 Post-conflict Northern Uganda ......................................................................................... 56 2.7 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 58 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................ 59 ‘GIRL SOLDIERS’ AND POST–CONFLICT
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