By Bruno Mugizi
The Government of Uganda has repatriated two women formerly held in captivity by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), along with several children, from the Central African Republic (CAR).
According to the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, the women were received at the UPDF Airbase in Entebbe after being flown in from Bangui, CAR.
The returnees include Ikol Grace, 33, a Ugandan national, and Aniyessi Teregina, 33, a South Sudanese national. Grace arrived with her two children, Ayuma Maria, 8, and Oryema Bosco, 2, while Teregina arrived with one of Joseph Kony’s orphaned children, aged two years.
The group was escorted from CAR to Uganda by the Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security (CDIS), Maj. Gen. Richard Otto.
Grace was reportedly abducted in 2003 at the age of 10 from Amuria District, while Teregina was abducted in 2006 at the age of 13 from Yambio in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State.
The Acting Director of Defence Public Information, Col. Chris Magezi, said the South Sudanese national will later be facilitated to return to her home country.
“In all, eight Kony wives and 13 children escaped from captivity in January this year after their camp was attacked by an armed group south of Darfur near the borders of CAR, Sudan, and South Sudan,” Magezi said.
He added that the other women, who are citizens of CAR and the Democratic Republic of Congo, together with their children, had already been reunited with their families in their respective countries. Magezi further noted that Uganda has in recent years continued to receive former LRA captives returning from CAR.
“In 2023 and 2024, more than 150 LRA returnees, including some of Kony’s wives and children, were returned to Uganda from CAR after escaping LRA captivity,” he said.
Torch Media Africa
