Aboke abductions

Kidnapping of female students in Uganda
The Aboke abductions were the kidnapping of 139 secondary school female students from St. Mary's College Secondary school by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 10 October 1996, in Aboke, Kole District (then part of Apac District), Uganda. The deputy head mistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and successfully negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. The Aboke abductions and Fassera's dramatic actions drew international attention, unprecedented at that time, to the insurgency in northern Uganda. A book titled "Aboke Girls" was written by Els De Temmerman about the abductions and effects of the abductions. Aboke Girls Memorial aka Aboke Girls Monument was constructed in remembrance of the 139 girls who were abducted and killed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), others were forced to become soldiers, sex slaves, wives for the LRA soldiers. The monument is located near Lira district head quarters.

Following the rise to power in January 1986 of President Yoweri Museveni after the victory of his rebel National Resistance Army, the north of Uganda was wracked by conflict as first the rebel Uganda People's Democratic Army and then the chiliastic Holy Spirit Movement struggled against the new rulers. In January 1987, another rebel group, the LRA, was started by the spirit medium Joseph Kony, eventually becoming the sole surviving rebel force. Despite attempts by the government to destroy or co opt the LRA, it remained a weak but threatening force in the northern bush. In early 1994, the character of the LRA changed after it began to be supplied by the government of Sudan. The rebels began to target civilians, mutilating those they thought to be government sympathisers and abducting children as child soldiers and sex slaves. Most LRA activities at this time were concentrated within the three districts then comprising Acholiland: Gulu, Pader, and Kitgum. The violence, however, sometimes reached into Apac District, which bordered Gulu and Pader to the south. On 21 March 1989, the LRA carried out a raid on St. Mary's College Aboki Girls school, a Combonian school for girls mainly between the ages of 13 and 16. The rebels had abducted 10 schoolgirls and 33 seminarians and villagers, as well as killing others whom they had run across. In that incident, Fassera had tried to follow the rebels but had been forced to turn back after a battle erupted between the LRA force and a patrol of the government Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). Nine of the ten girls eventually escaped, while one was killed in a battle several years later. As a result, a UPDF unit was assigned to protect the college. The LRA almost always attacked at night, so this was a key breakthrough. Nineteen soldiers were assigned to the protection of the college, but Alba, feeling that the military presence was insufficient to stop an attack, sent Fassera by bike to ask for 50 soldiers, stating that she would otherwise close the school. Fassera did not have a way to transport the soldiers she was requesting, and the LDU officer calmed her by saying that he would send word if there was any danger. In the knowledge that, if caught, the rebels would force them to open the doors, Sisters Alba and Fassera woke the one older nun, Sister Matilde, and together hid in the compound's stock house. Through the night, they heard the sounds of rebels moving through the compound but never the voice of any of the girls, giving them hope that the rebels had been kept out of the dorms by the iron reinforced doors and windows. Later estimates put the number of armed rebels at about 200. They burned the school vehicle, ransacked the clinic, and unsuccessfully attempted to burn several buildings. The leader ordered the woman who had joined Bosco and Fassera to leave and the pursuers and the LRA rebels then continued up the ridge, Fassera stayed close to Ocaya in the knowledge that only he could release the girls. They caught up with the girls and continued walking with the rebels and their abductees, both the students and other abductees that the rebels had taken before the band made camp near the railroad at Acokara. Ocaya told Fassera to separate the St. Mary's College girls from the other captives and warned her against trying to add the other captives from her group. Fassera began to think that she would actually get all the girls back, but at that moment a UPDF helicopter gunship passed overhead, forcing everyone to scatter and hide in the brush and Ocaya ordered everyone to move again. Crossing the railroad tracks, the group came under fire from UPDF soldiers and everyone scrambled for cover. For four hours, the group continued on a forced march, periodically hiding from the gunship searching the area, as a rearguard of rebels slowed the UPDF soldiers. The group, apparently losing the UPDF, arrived in a camp where there were still more abductees and the St. Mary's College girls were again separated from the others. One of Ocaya's "wives" took Fassera behind a hut to bathe and they had an argument when Fassera refused to change out of her habit into a dress. When she returned, Bosco whispered some of the girls were not being released. Fassera asked Ocaya if he was releasing the girls and he shook his head, wrote "139" in the dirt with a stick and said that he was releasing 109 and keeping 30, having selected them for desirable traits while Fassera was absent. Soon after the abduction, a girl named Jennifer went missing. When she was found hiding in a hut, the rebels dragged her into the open and ordered the others to beat her to death. The girls hit her lightly at first, but then the rebels surrounded the group and beat anyone who was not hitting Jennifer hard. Afterwards the LRA rebels left the corpse in the open and beat those who wept, both as an lesson about attempting to escape and as a way to break the social ties between the girls. After a week of walking, the girls were brought north to Kony's base in Southern Sudan where they were given to various commanders as "wives". She later co founded the Watye Ki Gen (we have hope) and organisation that supports both the returnees from the LRA rebels and their children to catch up with the stigma with the help of World Vision Children of War Reintegration Centre in Gulu.

In February 2001 during the presidential campaigns, Yoweri Museveni was reported to have said that Aboke girls should no longer be an issue as they were already affected by HIV/AIDS while he was speaking over Radio Rhino FM in Lira. Angelina Atyam also said that they (parents of the abducted children) had forgiven the rebels and also that they needed their girls back home whether they are sick or not, child mothers or child slaves.