Table 7.3. Methods and Reasons for Suicides/Suicide Attempts among Men
FOREWORD
How to address a war as destructive and long-running as that in northern Uganda? Chris Dolan's startling and original answer begins with the observation that this has not really been a war at all. Though typically portrayed as a military contest between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the government (the parties that signed a fragile cessation of hostilities in 2006), the conflict is better understood – Dolan argues – as a form of ‘social torture’ that has maintained local populations in a position of ‘subordinate inclusion’.
The key instrument here has been the camps or ‘protected villages’ into which hundreds of thousands of people were concentrated, ostensibly (as the name implies) for their own protection. In this sense, humanitarian agencies have been complicit in ‘social torture’. Dolan notes that a great many Ugandans used the word ‘torture’ to describe their own experience in the war. Then he shows how ‘in the name of protection, the population experienced on a mass scale the key elements of torture, most notably violation, debilitation and humiliation’. A sense of uncertainty and lack of control were pervasive. This in turn fed into other kinds of violence, for example when some of the encamped men, having lost their ability to protect and provide for their families, embraced more violent definitions of masculinity and various forms of domestic abuse. Indeed, the persistence of violence more generally reflects, in part, the process by which victims have frequently become perpetrators. Meanwhile, blame has been internalised by the victims, not least by the Acholi ethnic group that has born the brunt of
the violence. In these circumstances, using the label ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ becomes inappropriate since the trauma is ongoing: in fact, the label becomes part of ‘a structure of denial’.
Dolan emphasises that the rebels could have been overcome with a coherent military strategy that did not alienate large numbers of civilians. Government depredations have been much less publicised or criticised than those by the rebels, and this is in line with many other contemporary conflicts where government actors have been given an easier ride than rebels. Significantly, when peace has appeared possible, government actors have frequently sabotaged it.
The point of all this prolonged and intense suffering, Dolan emphasises, was not so much to defeat the insurgency as to send a sharp message to the Acholi people as a whole as well as to other potentially restive social groups in other parts of the country. In this sense, the study resonates with other cases – including wars in Sierra Leone and Guatemala as well as the ‘war on terror’: the war is not simply against the ‘named enemy’ and the imprecision of the response to insurgency and terror, whilst alienating many people, serves a function in sending a message of intimidation to a much wider group.
This study is sure to provoke controversy, and never more so than when the author says of many donors, NGOs, multilateral organisations and churches: ‘…like doctors in a torture situation, they appear to be there to ease the suffering of victims, but in reality they enable the process to be prolonged by keeping the victim alive for further abuse.’ Dolan is not pulling any punches. He draws on very detailed local knowledge. It is a beautifully written book, disturbing and revealing. The analysis is clear and incisive. And crucially, Dolan gives a voice to some of those who have been silenced by the common view that war is simply a contest between one ‘side’ and the other. I believe this book will become a landmark in the study of aid and conflict.
– David Keen
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There is no way to adequately acknowledge the multiple ways in which different people at different times have contributed to this work over its long gestation, and not all of them can or would wish to be named. This includes many people in the ‘protected villages’ who welcomed me with the words ‘go and tell people out there what is happening to us here’.
I thank all my colleagues in ACORD, particularly Rosalba Oywa for her moral and practical support, Sunday Abwola for our work with the military, Andrew Olweny for guiding me around Kitgum district, Okello Vincent for looking after me when I was sick, and Christopher Ojera for enabling the whole process. The late Hon. Omwony Ojok, then Minister for Northern Uganda, deserves special mention for numerous conversations and for his commitment to getting key issues debated in public. For his medical intervention, I am forever grateful to the late Dr Matthew Lukwiya of Lacor Hospital.
For bringing their personal skills, analyses and suggestions to bear on the research I am indebted to: Latim William, David Okiya, David Okello, Anna Okwir, Stella Atim, Jude Ogik, Ongwech Otim Patrick, Kinyera Fred, Alice Jean Ochola, Oola Timothy, Oola Ben, Okwera Santo, Oringa Robert, Opio James, Obol Alex Okot, Oyera Martin Leko, the late Odoch Athii, and the late Odoko Amida Martin of Odek. Most particularly I am grateful to my colleague and friend, Komakech Charles Okot. For sharing his experiences in the LRA, I shall always remember and respect the late Yakobo Engena. To Father Carlos, who has the courage to speak out, my thanks also.
For back-stopping me in various phases of the development of this book, many thanks to Judy el Bushra, Niki Kandirikirira, Jeff Handmaker, Judith Large, Barbara Harrell-Bond, Effie Voutira, Faisa Loyaan, Ian Swartz, Shamani Shikwambi, Vanessa Farr and my brother Phil Dolan. All deserve special mention, as does Thi Minh Ngo for both moral and practical support. I owe special intellectual debts to David Keen and Tim Allen, both of whom stayed with this project for the long haul and encouraged me to publish, and to John Cameron and Tania Kaiser who engaged so rigorously and unstintingly with this work.
ABBREVIATIONS
| ACF | Action Contre la Faim |
| AAH | Action Against Hunger |
| ARLPI | Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative |
| AVSI | Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale |
| CDC | Centre for Disease Control |
| CO | Commanding Officer |
| CRS | Catholic Relief Services |
| DEO | District Education Office |
| EU | European Union |
| FEWS | Famine Early Warning System |
| GISO | Gombolola Internal Security Operative |
| GoS | Government of Sudan |
| GoU | Government of Uganda |
| HSM | Holy Spirit Movement |
| HURIFO | Human Rights Focus |
| HURIPEC | Human Rights and Peace Centre |
| ICRC | International Committee of the Red Cross |
| IGAD | Inter-Governmental Authority on Development |
| IGO | Inter-Governmental Organisation |
| IRIN | Integrated Regional Information Network |
| INGO | International Non-Governmental Organisation |
| KICWA | Kitgum Concerned Women's Association |
| LC | Local Council/Councillor |
| LRA | Lord's Resistance Army |
| LRM | Lord's Resistance Movement |
| MSF | Médecins Sans Frontières |
| MUAC | Middle Upper Arm Circumference |
| NGO | Non-Governmental Organisation |
| NRA | National Resistance Army |
| NRM | National Resistance Movement |
| NURP | Northern Uganda Reconstruction Programme |
| OPM | Office of the Prime Minister |
| PRO | Public Relations Officer (UPDF) |
| PRRO | Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation |
| PTSD | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder |
| RPF | Rwandan Patriotic Front |
| SPLA | Sudanese People's Liberation Army |
| SPLM | Sudanese People's Liberation Movement |
| SCF | Save the Children Fund |
| UHRC | Ugandan Human Rights Commission |
| UNDP | United
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