Uganda Radio Show Prompts Radio Phone-in

Ugandans listeners eager to vent their views after listening to IWPR show on international justice.

A radio station in northern Uganda aired a live phone-in after receiving numerous calls from listeners to the latest episode of IWPR’s Facing Justice – a programme discussing justice and human rights in northern Uganda, which is broadcast across the region.

Listeners to Radio Rhino, a station in the town of Lira, were eager to contribute their views on the issues raised by the programme broadcast on February 23. So many callers to the station wanted to express an opinion that producers organised a phone-in soon after the Facing Justice episode went out.

The programme discussed problems faced by hundreds of Congolese women who married Ugandan soldiers and came to northern Uganda when the troops withdrew from the Ituri region of Congo in 2000. Many of the women were abandoned by their husbands, who went back to their Ugandan wives, and now live alone in slums or have resorted to prostitution to make a living.

The show also examined the perceived merits of holding rebel Lords Resistance Army commanders to account using traditional Ugandan justice systems, as opposed to criminal trials before the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague.

Children orphaned by the war and the scourge of HIV/AIDS and who now face the task of bringing up their younger siblings was the show’s third feature.

Speaking about the struggles of the Congolese women, one caller to Radio Rhino said the government should take action to support them.

The programme discussed problems faced by hundreds of Congolese women who married Ugandan soldiers and came to northern Uganda when the troops withdrew from the Ituri region of Congo in 2000.

“The government should register the complaints from such Congolese women and help them where necessary, including tracing their husbands [who were serving in the Ugandan army],” James Okello, a teacher from Gulu district, said.

Another caller blamed the problem on members of the Ugandan army.

“Those officers are to blame – the ones who went ahead cohabiting with the Congolese women when they had left their wives behind [in Uganda],” he told the programme. “This kind of promiscuity… leads to the suffering of innocent children [who were born from such relationships].”

A Ugandan officer, who wanted to remain anonymous, called to say that the army had been helping the Congolese women access medical services while they remained in Uganda. 

The spokesman for the army in northern Uganda, Captain Ronald Katurungu, had earlier told Facing Justice that Ugandan troops were not entirely to blame.

He said that some of the Congolese women who now face difficulties were never actually married to soldiers. They had followed the troops back to Uganda but hadn’t been married, so the army could not support them, he said.

One caller said that the fact that many Congolese women had borne children in Uganda meant the women could not easily go back to Congo. He also said that the plight of the women had had a knock-on effect as those who worked as prostitutes were spreading HIV/AIDS in the region.

“Some of these women have continued to infect many Ugandan men,” he said.

However, the majority of callers said that because many of the Congolese women had given birth in Uganda, they should be accepted and allowed to remain.

Responding to issues raised about prosecuting LRA commanders, Alex Olwo from Dokolo district urged the Kampala government to resume peace talks with the rebels.

A second caller on this topic supported the arrests warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, ICC, “The LRA should be handled by the ICC and not local justice mechanism because of their serious crimes.”