Central African survivors' project under way

Heroism of Conflict Survivors Inspires New Program in Central Africa

June 30 2008, Washington, DC: Ricky Richard was fourteen when he was abducted from his home in Uganda and drafted into the Lord's Resistance Army, a violent rebel militia that has forced almost two million Ugandans from their homes.

Mr Richard escaped after two years. But instead of turning his back on his past, Mr Richard confronted it directly. After leaving college, he formed Friends of Orphans, an organization that supports former child soldiers with education and technical training, and even helps them return to the villages they once terrorized.

Mr Richard's goal, as he explained recently, is to recover from his own trauma by giving back to the society he damaged. His best trainers are themselves former child soldiers, "war alumni" who understand the shame and fear felt by their young wards.

Friends of Orphans is one of several African initiatives that have inspired an ambitious new project by the Washington-based Survivor Corps to support conflict survivors in Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. A program team will visit Africa this week to meet with survivors and plan a two-year program of training and support for their campaigns.

Survivor Corps was formerly known as Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) and was a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its leadership in the successful International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The new African initiative seeks to apply lessons learned from working with landmine survivors, and back it up with international lobbying.

The benefits of such an approach were demonstrated in Dublin on May 30 when 106 governments adopted a new draft treaty to ban the production and use of cluster bombs. Survivor Corps put survivors at the forefront of the negotiations, and the new treaty has been welcomed by advocates in northern Uganda where 800 Ugandans have lost limbs to landmines and cluster bombs.

The new program has chosen Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi because all three countries have been shattered by conflicts which targeted the weak and vulnerable, particularly women and children. But in spite of the immense suffering, Survivor Corps sees hope in the courage and resilience of those who survived.

"By working together survivors can rise above their trauma and contribute to peace," said Michael Moore, an official at Survivor Corps who coordinates the new Africa program. "But they need real support. We want to make sure that people who were marginalized in the conflicts are not marginalized in the peace."

Mr Moore visited the three countries in May and met with survivors, including Mr Richard. He was accompanied by Mendi Njonjo from the Advocacy Project (AP) in Uganda. AP will support the program with information and advocacy training.

The initiative has been welcomed by African civil society. During a recent visit to Washington, Michael Otim, Director of the NGO Forum in Gulu, northern Uganda, said that the needs of survivors are often overlooked in a conflict like Uganda's, which has displaced over 90 percent of the population. "No one is really helping (survivors)," he said. "The problem seems so big and overwhelming."

Once the African partners are identified, an experienced team will hold trainings in Kampala, Kigali and Bujumbura. Ms. Njonjo, who will manage the Ugandan program, is a specialist in women and conflict in Africa. The coordinator in Burundi, Pierre Claver Nsengiyumva, worked with CARE in Burundi before joining Survivor Corps. A Rwandan coordinator is being recruited.

Survivor Corps and AP will support campaigns from Washington under the direction of Robert Mugisha, a Rwandan national who formerly worked in the Rwandan Justice Ministry and the International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha.

The program is committed to producing tangible results. Annelieke van de Wiel, an AP Peace Fellow from the Law School at Amsterdam University, will leave shortly for northern Uganda, where she will help advocates for the disabled to demand that disability rights are integrated into any reconstruction program. The program will share the stories of survivors and their campaigns through a monthly newsletter, the Survivor's Voice, which is also being launched today, and in web pages.