SOUTH SUDAN / LRA

In South Sudan, former captives of the Lord's Resistance Army get vital help in rebuilding their lives and tackling their lingering fears. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:41
• Production Date: 31 May 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; CHILD SOLDIERS
• Geographic Subject: SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U120531e

Description

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / LRA
TRT: 2.41
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ZANDE/ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 31 MARCH, 2 APRIL 2012, MAKPANDU SETTLEMENT AND CHILD TRANSIT CENTRE, YAMBIO, SOUTH SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Makpandu village
2. Wide shot, Makpandu settlement
3. Med shot, Mborifue walking on his small piece of land
4. Med shot, Mborifue digging his a land
5.SOUNDBITE (Zande) Mborifue Dieudonne - Former LRA Soldier :
“He told us when going to fight one should always be focused and not think about other things. Always think about your business and what you are going for.”
6.Various shots, people and activities in Makpandu camp.
7. Med shot, Mborifue walking in the bush
8. Med shot, Mborifue hiding in the bush
9.SOUNDBITE (Zande) Mborifue Dieudonne, former LRA Soldier:
“The small bible in Kony’s hands can do so many things. First of all if somebody has the idea of escaping, he would know it directly from the bible. And if someone tries to sleep with or rape a woman, he would know of it with the help of the bible.”
10. Close up, Anna’s hands during the interview
11. Tracking shot, Ann walking
12. Med shot, Anna with her teacher in the Child Transit Center
13. Med shot, Anna showing where she sleeps
14. SOUNDBITE (Zande) Anna, former LRA Captive:
“After you are abducted they apply some kind of oil on your face, this is to make you not feel like going back home. And if you do, you can’t remember the way back.”
15. Wide shot, Anna walking with her teacher.
16. Various shots, Anna being taught how to read and write
17. Med shot, Anna singing and playing with her friends at the centre
18. SOUNDBITE (Zande) Anna, former LRA Captive:
“I thank everyone in this centre for helping me find my parents”
19. Med shot, Anna packing
20. Wide shot, children playing outside of their tents
21. Wide shot, Mborifue with his family (wife and child)
22. Wide shot, Mborifue’s wife with her baby
23. Wide shot, women gathering
24. Various shots, people and activities in Makpandu settlement

Storyline

Yambio, where South Sudan meets the Democratic Republic of Congo. A place people fled to in order to escape the LRA, the Lord’s Resistance army.

Mborifue was abducted by the LRA from his village in Obo in the Central African Republic.
For a year, he did manual labour for the LRA. Then he was handed a gun.

He remembers the LRA leader Joseph Kony well.

SOUNDBITE (Zande) Mborifue Dieudonne, Former LRA Soldier :
“He told us when going to fight, one should always be focused and not think about other things. Always think about your business and what you are going for.”

Mborifue was a reluctant soldier. But Kony ruled by fear.

SOUNDBITE (Zande) Mborifue Dieudonne - Former LRA Soldier :
“The small bible in Kony’s hands can do so many things. First of all if somebody has the idea of escaping, he would know it directly from the bible. And if someone tries to sleep with or rape a woman, he would know of it with the help of the bible.”

A fellow abductee from Congo, who’s identity we must protect, confirms the LRA’s culture of oppression.

Only 19, Anna was taken from her home and forced to play wife to an LRA commander. For more than two years she was a captive…forced into work and looting for the LRA.

SOUNDBITE (Zande) Anna, Former LRA Captive:
“After you are abducted they apply some kind of oil on your face, this is to make you not feel like going back home. And if you do, you can’t remember the way back.”

Eventually both Anna and Mborifue escaped.

Here UNHCR works with partners like the International Committee of the Red Cross to help young refugees find their families and if they want to return home.

Anna was brought UNHCR’s Child Transit Centre, in Yambio by the Ugandan Army. She was given psychological help, and with time, her family in Congo was contacted.

SOUNDBITE (Zande) Anna, Former LRA Captive:
“I thank everyone in this centre for helping me find my parents.”

In mid- April Anna went back to her village.

But many LRA victims say they will not return until the rebels are gone for good.

Mborifue who lives in Makpandu refugee settlement, near Yambio, with his wife is among them.
The over 5,000 refugees living here, most victims of the LRA want to see Kony apprehended.

And only then they say, will his spell finally be broken.