By Norbert Mao & Agency
Tears of joy and relief filled the Office of the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Centre in Laroo-Pece Division, Gulu City, on Friday as 14 former captives and fighters of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) were officially received and handed over for rehabilitation.
The returnees, comprising eight men, four women, and two children, arrived from Juba, South Sudan, after years in captivity.
The group, all Ugandan nationals, was repatriated through a joint effort involving the Acholi Cultural Institution, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), and the Government of South Sudan.
Alex Oyet, Coordinator of Ker Kwaro Acholi, said efforts to persuade the former captives and fighters to return home began between 2023 and 2024 while they were living in the Central African Republic (CAR).
According to Oyet, the initiative was spearheaded by the Acholi Cultural Institution under Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana II in collaboration with the Government of Uganda through the UPDF.
The returnees are reported to have escaped from the camp of LRA leader Joseph Kony in the Central African Republic in 2023 under the leadership of former senior LRA commander George Olobo.
Oyet said engagements with the group continued until April this year, when they finally agreed to return home through a process coordinated by the UPDF’s Chief of Defence Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Richard Otto Owilli.
