Kwiyucwiny (right) exchanging documents with Malitano at the Office of the Prime Minister in Gulu City. Looking on is Brig. Ocen and the Gulu Resident City Commissioner. Photos by Walter Okot.
By Walter Okot
Gulu: The Office of the Prime Minister has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PAX and APRU to rehabilitate and reintegrate former LRA abductees.
PAX and APRU are the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that helped to repatriate the LRA returnees from Central African Republic and DRC to Uganda.
The organizations repatriated 141 LRA returnees, comprising 36 ex-combatants, 27 spouses and 78 children in 2023.
The MoU was signed on Thursday, February 1, 2024, at the office of the State Minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny, in Gulu City.
Kwiyucwiny said the signing of the MoU is to allow APRU and PAX to work with the government in providing health services, feeding, skills training, and school fees for the returnees.
Each returnee has already received a mattress, a basin, four saucepans, a blanket, four plates, and cups. Food items given include 5 kilograms of maize flour and beans and money. They will also undergo cleansing before going for skills training.
Obligation of PAX, APRU
Kwiyucwiny said the MoU mandates PAX and APRU to provide food, beverages, sanitary facilities and medical checkups and follow-ups. Other provisions include psychological support, gender issues, nutrition, and family planning services.
The organizations are expected to provide education for children and professional vocational training for adults in schools and training Centers in Gulu from January 2024 to July 2025.
She said PAX and APRU will facilitate the contact of the ex-combatants with their family members to promote reconciliation at family and community levels. The contact will also be at cross-border level for returnees of Congolese origin who want to live in Uganda because of their families.
“They will also assign the staff who are familiar with the local cultures and languages to join as Uganda-Congolese commission that will evaluate the wishes of Congolese women regarding their future,” Kwiyucwiny said.
Obligations of the government
The Minister said the government will ensure the security of the LRA returnees, provide water, electricity, timely medical care through outreaches and referral services until they resettle, and also encourage traditional justice ceremonies for reconciliation and reintegration.
“The government will also promote visits of the Congolese and Central African families to their daughters, and children living in the Gulu camp and facilitate their repatriation through diplomatic means with respective governments,” she added.
Jean Claude Malitano, the National Coordinator of APRU, said since the returnees were brought to the Gulu Rehabilitation Centre, they have carried out medical checkups and found some of them with bullets in their bodies which require operations.
Malitano said they have also opened informal classes to teach and prepare children for formal education.
He revealed that on Saturdays, the returnees receive money for food. The returnees have already been given 2 acres of land in the Omoro district, where they grow potato leaves, locally known as Sombe, a staple food for the Congolese.
Brig. Patrick Ocen, the chairperson of technical committee for repatriation in the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, appealed to the organizations to keep information about their client’s confidentiality unless a client says otherwise.
He said the UPDF has screened the returnees who will undergo surgery, and reassured those who will not.
Brig. Ocen also requested PAX and APRU to start psychological treatment of the returnees to help them regain their confidence to live peacefully when they reintegrate into the community.
“Without psychological treatment, cooperation and openness will not be amongst them,” Ocen said.
