Fraud, AK-47s and Singing Rebels

Yesterday evening was pretty crazy. I was playing pool with Jeff and Ceaser at a bar called Havana in Gulu, when a guy in an army uniform grabbed Jeff and dragged him outside. I ran out to see what was happening and Jeff was sat on a plastic chair in the seat, surrounded by 6 guys in army and police uniforms, all pointing AK-47s at him. I asked what was happening and a guy dressed in civilian clothes (who later turned out to be Jeff’s brother) said “you are guilty too” and a solider pointed his gun at me. I put my hands up in the air and said “I was only asking, only asking”. The soldiers/police then grabbed Jeff in a headlock and dragged him off up the street towards the police station.

Caesar and I went back inside for a moment or two, if only to avoid being shot or arrested ourselves. We then went to the police station to see what was happening. The police informed us that Jeff’s brother (Moses) had alleged that Jeff had stolen 2.6million Shillings from their joint account by forging Moses’ signature. I asked if the police had any evidence or if it was just one word against the other to which I was told “shut up or we arrest you too. You are guilty with him”. Ceaser called his friend (Solomon) who is a final year Law student at the university in Gulu and he came down to see what was going on. Solomon told them that they had to grant Jeff bail as they had no evidence against him. One of the officers shouted at Solomon “you are obstructing justice”, to which I (somewhat foolishly) scoffed “this is justice?”. The bolshy officer did not take well to this and pointed his gun at me again and shouted “leave”, but his superior told him to sit down and be calm. They refused to grant Jeff bail and he remained in the cell for the night and we left as the police were clearly in no mood for discussion. I eventually got home at 2am.

I had to wake up at 7am to walk 4km for a meeting at a centre for former-combatants in a village called Kasubi (needless to say a 4km trek in smart clothes on only 5 hours sleep is not a great start to the day). The person I was supposed to meet at the centre turned up 1 hour and 15 minutes late and said “so perhaps we can meet on Monday, I am very busy today”. I was a little pissed off, but he said I could watch some of the lessons that they teach at the centre if I wanted. I figured I had walked far enough, I may as well not completely have wasted my journey. It was explained to me that the centre takes former-rebels and abducted women (known rather misleadingly as ‘bush wives’ – in fact they were forced to marry rebels and kept as sex slaves) and teaches them business, life skills and gives them counselling for 1 ½ years, and then after successful completion of this period, they are given some money with which to set up a business based on what they have learnt. I sat in on a music class, where about 40 former-rebels and bush wives were being taught a song about forgiveness and reconciliation. The children of many of the young women were running around at the back of the classroom amusing themselves. The people were fantastic singers and the song was very powerful, even with my understanding only a few words (forgiveness, happy village, better, thank you and praise).

It was a very surreal experience to be sat in a room surrounded by people who had been abducted and abducted people themselves, been raped and raped people themselves, mutilated and murdered innocent people, yet to be hearing a beautiful song and for them to be laughing and smiling as they sang with each other. Being surrounded by them and speaking to a few, it was not possible to ever imagine them in army fatigues with weapons in their hands doing the sort of things I have read and heard about. It was great to see them enjoying themselves so much. I am going back on Monday to speak with some of them about their experiences whilst they were in the bush.

After this, I went to the police station to see what was going on with Jeff. He absolutely reeked when he came out of the cell, as it turns out four people were locked in a tiny space just about big enough to lie down in, without a toilet. I spoke with his brother who had calmed down somewhat and apologised for accusing me the night before. It turns out Jeff is actually a bit of a dodgy geezer, and he had in fact stolen the money, which had been paying for his lavish lifestyle for the last few weeks. I was surprised as Jeff had in fact borrowed money from me and paid me back the next day, often paid for meals we had and generally never gave any indication he wanted anything other than to be a friend to me. I guess if he had nearly 3 million Shillings in his pocket then he really had no need to rob me! Still, a bit disappointing as I enjoyed his company but c’est la vie.

The police told me that if he pays back the 2.6 million he won’t go to prison and will be set free, but if he can’t pay it back he will go to prison for around 6 years. I’m fairly certain he doesn’t have 2.6 million just lying around, so I’m guessing the next ‘hotel’ he stays in will be courtesy of the Government of Uganda.