Male rape in Uganda
africa 4:38 AM
Rape has become a tactic of war, both by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels and soldiers within the Ugandan government forces. One man tells RNW of his ordeal at the hands of male rapists, for the first time.
In northern Uganda, rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been battling the Museveni regime for over 20 years. But it has only recently been revealed that men, as well as women and children are victims of rape. In Payam village in Gulu district, northern Uganda, Fred Owinyi is lying on his mat emitting a sense of hopelessness.
"It was a sunny morning when I heard gunshots, but I paid little attention because it was not unusual occurrence in my village," Owinyi recounts the tragic events of eight years ago. "Every time rebels tried to attack my village, government soldiers would keep them at bay. So I asked my wife and children to go back inside the house as we waited for the situation to calm down. But then two shots entered our hut and injured my five year old son."
Much to Owinyi's surprise, they were in fact being attacked by government forces. The battalion was led by Brigadier Tabule, and according to Owinyi: "He ordered his men to tie us up. Men were tied separately from the women and children. They kidnapped my sons and my wife. And to this day I have not seen them."
Owinyi was subsequently abducted and taken to a rebel camp deep in the forest on the Sudanese side of the border. There they would perform various domestic tasks for the commanders, including collecting water.
Rape on the river bank
Suddenly tears start to fall Owinyi's face and he begins to stammer: "My life changed drastically in March 2003," Owinyi recalls. He was asked to collect water and was escorted by a commander and his two bodyguards. A tactic used to separate Owinyi from the other captives. He was then knocked unconscious before being tied to a tree and repeatedly raped by his three captors.
Homosexual acts are a taboo in most African cultures. Owinyi feels demasculated: "I was thoroughly humiliated by people I called brothers, who turned into beasts and raped me," bemoans Owinyi. "After they had raped me, one of them shot me in the leg so that he could claim I tried to escape. They kept me in that commander's hut, serving as his concubine until the day I got an opportunity and escaped in 2009," Owinyi explains tearfully.
After six years of being kept and raped by his tormentors, and a further three years of anguish, Owinyi has broken his silence, unlike so many men who have suffered similar fates. But although he has found the courage to talk about it, the traumatizing experience continues to haunt him.
In northern Uganda, rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been battling the Museveni regime for over 20 years. But it has only recently been revealed that men, as well as women and children are victims of rape. In Payam village in Gulu district, northern Uganda, Fred Owinyi is lying on his mat emitting a sense of hopelessness.
"It was a sunny morning when I heard gunshots, but I paid little attention because it was not unusual occurrence in my village," Owinyi recounts the tragic events of eight years ago. "Every time rebels tried to attack my village, government soldiers would keep them at bay. So I asked my wife and children to go back inside the house as we waited for the situation to calm down. But then two shots entered our hut and injured my five year old son."
Owinyi was subsequently abducted and taken to a rebel camp deep in the forest on the Sudanese side of the border. There they would perform various domestic tasks for the commanders, including collecting water.
Rape on the river bank
Suddenly tears start to fall Owinyi's face and he begins to stammer: "My life changed drastically in March 2003," Owinyi recalls. He was asked to collect water and was escorted by a commander and his two bodyguards. A tactic used to separate Owinyi from the other captives. He was then knocked unconscious before being tied to a tree and repeatedly raped by his three captors.
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After six years of being kept and raped by his tormentors, and a further three years of anguish, Owinyi has broken his silence, unlike so many men who have suffered similar fates. But although he has found the courage to talk about it, the traumatizing experience continues to haunt him.
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