Former Lord Resistance Army fighters surrender

PIC:The Ex LRA fighters Bosco Kilama (left) and Simon Peter Ochora being welcomed by the Amnesty Commision spokesperson Moses Draku at the commission headquarters on Friday April 21, 2017. Photo by Francis Emorut

The former Lord Resistance Army (LRA) combatants have surrendered after spending twenty -one years in the jungles.

The ex LRA fighters surrendered to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Congo (MUNUSCO) and were flown to Entebbe airport on Friday.

Bosco Kilama who was abducted in 1996 by the LRA fighters left the bushes of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and went to the UN mission saying he was tied of being in the bush.

The Ex LRA fighters Bosco Kilama (left) and Simon Peter Ochora after surrendering the Amnesty Commision headquarters in Kampala on Friday April 21, 2017. Photo by Francis Emorut

 

Kilama, 45, said his surrender is also to test whether the amnesty extended to ex- rebel fighters works after getting messages that they would not be killed.

"But since I have been welcomed by the Amnesty Commission I feel so far safe however, until I reach home and nothing happens to me then I will prove that it works," Kilama who was one of the rebel commanders at rank of Lieutenant said.

Kilama was abducted while digging a sugar plantation at Layibi Division in Gulu district and taken to South Sudan where he was trained.

According to Kilama he last saw the LRA rebel chief Joseph Kony on March 24, last year at Dafur in Sudan where he spent two days with him.

He said each commander was given instructions to lead their group of 12 fighters to different locations in DRC.

"He (Kony) advised us to behave well when interacting with the community because he was fighting to come back to Uganda," Kilama told New Vision.

Simon Peter Ochora, 26, another rebel fighter who surrendered said he was happy to be at home after spending 14 years in the bush.

Ochora was fighting from the Central Republic of Africa (CAR) before he surrendered to the UN mission in DRC.

The youthful ex-combatant was abducted in 2003 while he was coming from St. Kizito Primary School in Gulu and taken to South Sudan for training.

Both the former rebel fighters have Congolese wives whom they bore three children for Kilama and two for Ochora and their women are pregnant.

The ex -combatants were welcomed by the Amnesty Commission spokesperson Moses Draku who assured them that they were safe and would be re-integrated to their communities in Gulu on Tuesday next week.

"You are most welcome to Uganda. It's very difficult to be in the bush. The decision you took to leave the bush and reach Uganda is commendable," Draku told the healthy former rebel fighters.

He said so far over 27,000 former rebel fighters have been reintegrated to their communities by the Amnesty Commission.

Most of them were from four rebel groups which are LRA, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), West Nile Bank Front (WNBF) and Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRFII)