One of the former wives of the Lord Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony told the International Criminal Court that in 2006 she was coerced to go back to him during the peace talks between the LRA and government.
Evelyn Amony said that she did not understand why everything she was being targeted while it was Kony that started the rebellion.
She told the ICC that when the peace talks began, she was given a phone and the first person she spoke to was Otti Vincent who asked how life away from the bush was. The soldiers would monitor and in on her conversations.
She was asked to persuade Kony to take part in the talks. She added that two other wives of Kony who could not come back to Uganda. She managed to leave Kony by lying to him that she had contracted HIV from a soldier she had gotten into a relationship with.
Here are the excerpts between Thomas Obhof and Evelyn Amony:
Obhof: How did you become wife to Kony?
Amony: I was abducted in 1994 and upon my abduction I was taken to his household and he started taking care of me as a “tin tin” {Girl}
Obhof: How did this happen?
Amony: When in Matugga he told me, “From today one wards I won’t take you as my baby sitter but my wife. I told him, how can I be your wife when up until this point you have called me your child? I escaped to Otti Vincent’s home. Otti Vincent told me that he is under Kony’s command so if I stayed there Kony would kill him. He took me back to Kony to Otti Lagoon’s house and they took me back to Kony. They beat me. Then Kony said it was because my father and mother gave birth to a beautiful girl and if I don’t agree at that 14 years old…I felt bad if you compare my age and his he was an old person.
Obhof: How did Kony treat you as a ‘tin tin’?
Amony: He would treat me nice. I would take care of his son Salim. However, some of his senior wives would beat me in some situations.
Obhof: Did Kony had a gun?
Amony: The rule does not allow him to carry a gun however he carried a pistol his escorts carried the big guns.
Obhof: Where would the wives be, if Kony wanted to meet with the other commanders like Otti Vincent and Otti Lagoon?
Amony: We would be sent away.
Obhof: You mentioned Kony’s wives. How many were there?
Amony: 27 wives were those he sired children with when I was there if you add with the ‘tin tins’ we were 60 in number.
Obhof: Children?
Amony: He had many children but some died and their mothers died. But the wife six children’s the others would be having three, four, two.
Obhof: You mentioned dock andaki which persons would be there?
Amony: Some commanders would be stationed there. The big commander in the centre, the second commander in the ring, the brigades like that.
Obhof: During these meetings where were Kony escorts located?
Amony: The first escorts would stand next to him. An example: Those with high ranks like Okodi, those would ranks are lower they would line up like that.
Obhof: How did you go back home?
Amony: I left the LRA in 2004.They captured my child. I asked Kony if I could go Palabek, he agreed… I got an opportunity to escape with my child. I wanted to escape with some foot soldiers, unfortunately there was an ambush and we were shot at then I was captured by the UPDF.When we got in ambush I raised my hand to show that I was ready to surrender. I was shot and the bullets 12 times. Fortunately, I was not injured…
Amony: When Acellam Odongo was captured, he was following me, they [UPDF] shot his buttock and legs when I was with them. When we entered Palabek it was the people who wanted you come stone us. The community looked at us as people who had committed something wrong
Amony: In 2006 when the peace talks I encountered some problems. I was given began a phone by DCI, I spoke to Otti Vincent. He asked me how life was, I told him that it was hard…I used to go to St Monica cultivate food and feed me and my baby… In 2006 I got information from Kony that my child that was captured by soldiers was in Busia.When I went to Busia, I realised that my child was not there. Busia is the border between Kenya and Uganda. The army took me.I was taken. They beat me kept asking me how Kony was…They forced me.The government was coercing me to go back to the peace talks in 2006….I did not understand why Kony started the rebellion but everything seemed to be falling on me.
The Defence completed the questioning and Lawyer Shkelzen Zeneli cross examined Evelyn Amony on behalf of the prosecution. Here are the excerpts:
Zeneli: He (Kony) threatened to kill you still refused?
Amony: Yes
Zeneli: Do you remember when Kony had yellow fever and almost died?
Amony: Yes I did
Zeneli: He tried to kill right?
Amony: Yes
Zeneli: The very sharp knife missed you and you hit the bed?
Amony: Right
Zeneli: He wanted to kill you because he could not bear the thought of him dying and you being taken over by one of his commanders, correct?
Amony: Correct
Zeneli: Let’s talk about how the women’s abducted were killed. Those women could not leave LRA correct?
Amony: Correct
Zeneli: So madam witness even though you were so close to Kony, for 11 years, even though he had warned you not to escape, even though the security around his house was so tight, even though he had tried to kill you, even though he talked to spirits you still tried to escape, correct?
Amony: Correct, but in most occasions I tried to escape he would not be nearby, he would not be close. For instance, that time [her last attempt to escape] he was in Uganda and I was in Juba.
Zeneli: You stood up to Kony, correct?
Amony: Correct.
Zeneli: And today Madam you are raising your children, isn’t that correct?
Amony: Correct
Zeneli: Not only are you raising your children you are helping to raise others’ children as well, correct?
Amony: Correct.
Zeneli: (Referring to her book,” I Am Evelyn Amony: Reclaiming My Life from the Lord’s Resistance Army”) You are even writing books?
Amony: Correct.
One of the lawyers representing victims, Anushka Sehmi questioned Evelyn Amony on her life before abduction and injuries she incurred while in the bush.Here are the excerpts:
Sehmi: Madam Witness, could you please tell the court what your life was before you were abducted?
Amony: Thank you. Before my abduction, I was a child who was growing [up] with my parents. I saw my future was bright, but once I was abducted, my future changed.
Sehmi: Any injuries or ailments [from your time with the LRA]?
Amony: I have pain in my chest, quite often I experience this pain. Ever since [I got back] I get frequent urge to go for urination. This is part of the problem I came back with from the bush.
The presiding judge, Bertram Schmitt questioned on whether there was stigmatization once one came back home from the bush.
Amony: Your honor, the problem depends where you are coming from because there are areas where there was a massacre … They just discriminate you. They just stigmatize you. Secondly, in the villages you cannot get odd jobs that you can do and earn some money…In towns one can get jobs to earn a living and also people in towns did not know you.
Amony: Our culture shows that children belong to the clan of their fathers. Some of them [the clan of a father) we find. Some of them we do not find. These children who do not get to know their clans [do not know where they belong].
