Former Soldier To Release Film About His Life

Jan 13, 2003

The film is the story of Steven Ssekyaya, who spent most of his childhood and youth as a soldier in the Ugandan army, but after a dramatic sequence of invents including imprisonment and escape, torture and the death of family members, he went to Denmark as a refugee.

By Vision Reporter
The film is the story of Steven Ssekyaya, who spent most of his childhood and youth as a soldier in the Ugandan army, but after a dramatic sequence of invents including imprisonment and escape, torture and the death of family members, he went to Denmark as a refugee.
In Denmark, he receives news that his son is not dead, as he had believed for the last seven years. His son is 11 years old and serving in the Ugandan army –– the very army that Ssekyaya fled.
Ssekyaya is determined to do anything in his powers to free his son and keep him from suffering like he did.
The background of the film takes you back to 1982, when Ssekyaya was 13 years old. In the film, together with 40 other classmates, he was abducted by the NRA and forced to become a child soldier. The NRA was a guerrilla army that fought openly from 1981 to 1986, before they overthrew the dictatorial regime of Milton Obote.
The film depicts NRA leader Yoweri Museveni as the first guerrilla leader to use child soldiers. Ssekyaya was a good soldier, who received promotions. He was entrusted with big responsibilities like that of transporting money, buying arms from foreign dealers and meeting important guests on behalf of Museveni.
As a 17-year-old, he was instrumental in the capture of Kampala, by commanding one of the battalions. After the capture of Kampala, he was promoted, and his father was named among the new ministers.
However, he and other guerrilla soldiers began having doubts the about sort of man they helped to victory. Many believed Museveni had not kept the promises he had made during the war.
When mysterious deaths began to occur among Museveni’s critic and when Ssekyaya’s own father (a minister) was murdered in 1987, Ssekyaya began investigating, an act that brought disfavour. He was imprisoned for years without trial. Later, he was able to escape to Kenya with his family. However, their freedom was short-lived.
The family was kidnapped on the open streets of Nairobi by Uganda’s Secret Service and Ssekyaya was again imprisoned.
He and his wife were subjected to torture and his wife died in prison, while his son disappeared. After escaping again in 1991, he came to Denmark.
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