Child Soldiers

“One boy tried to escape, but he was caught. They made him eat a mouthful of red pepper, and five people were beating him. His hands were tied, and then they made us, the other new captives, kill him with a stick. I felt sick. I knew this boy from before. We were from the same village. I refused to kill him, and they told me they would shoot me. They pointed a gun at me, so I had to do it. The boy was asking me, “Why are you doing this?” I said I had no choice. After we killed him, they made us smear blood on our arms. I felt dizzy. They said we had to do this so we would not fear death, and so we would not try to escape.”

Susan, 16

* Testimony from, The Scars of Death: Children Abducted by the LRA in Uganda, Human Rights Watch Report, 1997

Uganda has seen twenty years of violent conflict. During this time around 30 000 children as young as eight years old were abducted from their homes and forced to work as frontline soldiers and sexual slaves for the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Youngsters like Susan were trained to kill and forced to carry out atrocities against their own friends and family. Thousands of children were left traumatised and broken. There is a desperate need for projects to rescue these precious lives and restore their hope for the future.