AFRO-NETS> Documentation: Women and War

[ISIS-WICCE <isis@starcom.co.ug>]

Documentation: Women and War
----------------------------

Dear Colleagues,

We are glad to inform you that Isis-WICCE launched two research re-
ports on 23rd August 2001. Below is an abstracts about the reports.

"Women's Experiences of Armed Conflict Situations in Uganda: The case 
of Gulu District 1986-1999" and "Medical Interventional Study of War 
Affected Gulu District, Uganda" are essentially two parts of the same 
report.

Part one recounts one of the longest civil conflicts in the history 
of Uganda and examines its effects on individuals especially women 
and girls, families and communities. The report notes that the econ-
omy of the region has collapsed while marriage and family formation 
patterns have been irreversibly altered. Rebels did not only de-
stroyed infrastructure but also tortured and abused members of the 
community. The government soldiers were not clean either. They sys-
tematically looted personal property and livestock. The report gives 
disconcerting detail, mostly reported verbatim by women of their ab-
duction and rape, forced marriages and mutilation as well as trans-
formation into an effective murder machinery by the Kony rebel com-
manders. The women who survived abduction by rebels reveal the cru-
elty of government soldiers in livid tales of individual and gang 
rapes, forced prostitution, unwanted pregnancies, harsh punishments 
and the life of extreme deprivation in internally displaced people's 
camps or so called "protected villages". The women and men's tales of 
homosexual rapes (Tek Gungu) by government troops are as disconcert-
ing as their stories of genital mutilation by Kony rebel child sol-
diers.

It is noteworthy that while the majority of men have failed to cope 
with the war trauma and many taken to heavy drinking out of frustra-
tion, women with the burden of trauma and fending for families have 
either individually or in groups organised self-help activities to 
support their families economically.

The major health problems faced by the survivors include; untreated 
fevers, reproductive health complications, STIs including HIV/AIDS, 
broken and severed limbs and a host of other ailments. Psychosocial 
problems were the most numerous.

Part Two: The outcome of the findings of the earlier documentation 
necessitated an intervention as a way of scientifically analysing the 
consequences of war especially to women and girls. A team of special-
ists from African Psycare Research Organisation (APRO), Association 
of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Uganda (AOGU) and Department 
of Orthopaedics - Makerere University teamed-up in May 2001 with the 
district based counterparts in Gulu to undertake a one month data 
collection, which led to the medical intervention of emergency cases 
in the area of psychological, gynaecological and surgical.

This part of the report details a plethora of war related physical, 
mental and psychological malformations in just one of the over 30 In-
ternally Displaced Peoples' Camps of Gulu (Awer camp), that were se-
rious to warrant specialised attention. The intervention was aimed at 
providing lessons to enable medical rehabilitation of particularly 
women, girls and coping with the physiological and psychiatric condi-
tions imposed by war.

Nearly everybody interviewed has experienced at least one torture 
event. The commonly reported physical torture experiences included; 
beating and kicking, forced hard labour deprivation of food, water 
and medicine and tying Kandoya.

The government army (NRA/UPDF) accounted for a quarter of all torture 
cases, and the rebel army LRA (Kony) for 70%. Torture usually took 
place at home affecting significantly more females than males. Psy-
chiatric disorders diagnosed included post-traumatic stress, depres-
sion, alcohol abuse, generalised anxiety, panic anxiety, Agoraphobia, 
social phobia, somatoform, and suicidal thoughts. In addition im-
paired function was reported in work, family relationships and sexual 
function. 6% percent of the respondents had homicidal thoughts while 
23% of the respondents had suicidal thoughts.

The gynaecological effects related to war ranged from vesico vaginal 
fistulae (VVF), infertility, chronic pelvic pain, sexually transmit-
ted infections, vaginal tears and laxity. The study revealed that 
only a quarter of the women had accessed a qualified health worker 
for their problems. Sexual function was adversely affected, 22% had 
unstable or broken marriages and 32% were not able to work.

70.4% of the camp residents were found suffering from orthopae-
dic/surgical complaints especially recurrent and mechanical low back 
pain, septic arthritis, congenitally deformed limbs especially in the 
region of knee joint, soft tissue injuries such as cut wounds, 
bruises, skin lacerations at various sites on the body especially the 
limbs, face and trunk. Many of these injuries were a result of gun-
shots, beatings and cuts by sharp objects such as knives and ma-
chetes. Other surgery complaints included hernia, burn contractures, 
neglected or poorly treated fractures, TB of the spine and chronic 
pus-discharging sinuses from swollen limbs especially among children, 
were identified as cases that needed immediate assistance.

The authors came to the conclusion that the war has practically de-
bilitated the whole population. People live in "protected" Internally 
Displaced Peoples' camps where life is very difficult, health is poor 
and diseases are rampant. Men folk are few and decreasing in numbers. 
Women and children are overburdened with daily struggle to survive. 
This has caused numerous physical, psychological and social problems. 
The extreme conditions resulting from this war are compounded by se-
vere gynaecological and orthopaedic complications. 88% had psychoso-
cial problems.

The authors call on civil society in Uganda and the international 
community to bring pressure on the warring factions to ensure the war 
ends and hence pave the way for social, economic and medical reha-
bilitation of the tortured survivors. Ugandans have no other alterna-
tive but to forge for conflict resolution, peace building and co-
existence since, there is no winner in any form of conflict.

This report is a must read for NGOs, government planers, policy and 
decision-makers, the UN, humanitarian organizations, women and men, 
and all development workers as well as students undertaking peace 
studies. It provides an insight into the nearly forgotten war in the 
inter-lacustrine region of Africa where the population and particu-
larly women have become pawns in a sinister civil/international war 
game whose motive defies common reason.

Copies are available in the Isis-WICCE resource centre at US$5 each 
and will online by end of September.

--
ISIS-WICCE
Uganda
mailto:isis@starcom.co.ug

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