- ISBN13: 9781556527999
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
“Richard Opio has neither the look of a cold-blooded killer nor the heart of one. Yet as his mother and father lay on the ground with their hands tied, Richard used the blunt end of an ax to crush their skulls. He was ordered to do this by a unit commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that has terrorized northern Uganda for twenty years. The memory racks Richard’s slender body as he wipes away tears.” For more than twenty years, beginning … More >>
First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army
****UPDATED to 4 STARS**** Due to the fact that I cant get this sad story out of my head. It sticks with you. I mean, just HOW can there me so much evil in this world?!
I must say that this was a sad read. The book is about- Joseph Kony, a former witchdoctor who started a cult that went-about kidnapping children to increace it’s ranks of brain-washed killers who have thus far murdered about 100,000 of their own country-folk.
This book was written by journalist and editor for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting in ‘The Hague’, thus it felt as if I was reading a bunch of newspaper articles put together into a book form.
Rating: 2 / 5
This is a chilling book about the strife in Africa. I couldnt put this book down. Parts of it made me ill, seeing the souls of the worst people that have ever existed in history. A hundred thousand little Stalins and a bad idea. It sent chills up my spine knowing some of these murderers have immigrated.
Rating: 4 / 5
Why is a war in Africa that has led to the deaths of over 100,000 Ugandans, and forced millions out of their homes for almost 20 years, remain largely unnoticed and unheard of by the media? This book delves into the labyrinthine factors that surround the so-called “Lord’s Resistance Army,” (LRA) and their cult-like leader Joseph Kony. A war that seems purposeless in many ways, has ravaged the country of Uganda, with villagers in the north and west of the country living in the constant threat of raids, kidnapping, and gruesome violence against any who would oppose or threaten the LRA. Children are regularly kidnapped and forced at the threat of death to execute their own parents, and take up arms as unwilling soldiers in the LRA. Those who try to escape risk torture and mutilation, or simple starvation in the wild. Young girls are kept as harems and sex slaves and servants for the soldiers.
The guerilla warfare and controlling fear over the victims, have made the LRA stubbornly resistant to defeat and elusive. Yet at the same time the government’s armies seem woefully ineffective and perhaps even unwilling to fully eliminate this threat. It is not entirely clear why. Eichstaedt explores the confusing and complex factors of tribal identity, national borders and cooperation (or lack thereof) across the borders of Sudan and the DRC. He investigates the political factors at work, the purported religious influences on Kony.
Kony maintains a paper-thin claim that he is trying to restore obedience to the 10 commandments; a claim which is betrayed by his blatant disregard of all of them, and the unconscionable atrocities carried out by his soldiers. A bizarre mix of witchcraft, Christianity, and perhaps Islam attaches to Kony, a former witch doctor himself. In contrast to this hypocritical display of religious belief, there are countless examples of courage, bravery, and compassion on the behalf of some of the Ugandans and Catholic missionaries that live in the terrorized regions. Boldly decrying Kony’s actions and calling for cessation of violence over the airwaves, at the threat of violence to themselves; chasing down and recovering kidnapped children; showing forgiveness and the desire to heal the psychological trauma of those children who have escaped from serving as child soldiers or slaves.
This book is certainly a story that needs to be heard in the international community. How will justice be dealt? Ugandans fear that prosectution by the international court at the Hague might perpetuate the warfare and underlying hostilities. So how will a solution arise? As the book concludes, the future is still uncertain, though attempts at a peace accord have been made. Will they be honored? Will justice be served?
My one complaint about this book, is that it reads a little too much like a journal, and is occasionally a little tedious to read. The number of names and characters to keep straight is also overwhelming, and would be helped by a brief glossary.
Rating: 4 / 5
Despite being well written, this is a hard book to read. The horrors and atrocities committed by men on their fellow man is not really shocking but hard to read about. By ignoring it however it wont go away. At the same time I can’t imagine what one could do?
this book shines a light on another of the many African nations that dosen’t know the meaning of the word stability. Corrupt government officials and army, roving maniacs, and a bunch of people who are stuck in the middle and don’t know who to trust. I know its easy to sit back in my armchair and judge them from home but if people are really tired of living in fear then they need to unite and fight or nothing will change. But at the same time their own govt seems to be against them and almost helping their destruction.
I’m not some crazy, hardened conservative but after reading this book and hearing what the people of northern uganda say about the terror and the war it would seem they want someone else to take care of the mess but at the same time they don’t or else they wouldn’t be secretly helping the LRA. But at the same time helping their govt has been far from helpful. these people are truely stuck between a rock in a hard place.
Again reading this book is hard to do because the reality is hard to stomach but at the same time it’s a reality everyone should be aware of.
Rating: 5 / 5
For two decades, a bizarre guerrilla movement called the “Lord’s Resistance Army” – part Christian-animist cult, part ethnic uprising, part simple banditry – has plagued northern Uganda and the adjoining areas of Sudan and the Congo. Its chieftain, Joseph Kony, is a former witch doctor who claims to be “fighting for the Ten Commandments”. Its principal method of recruitment is the abduction of pre-teenagers, who are compelled to serve as porters, concubines and soldiers. Its trademark atrocity is cutting off the lips and noses of captives who are not pressed into service. Though its numbers have never been large, it has disrupted life throughout its area of operations. Casualties are estimated at 100,000 dead and nearly two million displaced into refugee camps.
Journalist Peter Eichstaedt’s account of this long conflict is disjointed, pedestrian and overloaded with platitudes, but not ineffective. Interviews with memorable figures, ranging from former boy soldiers to Catholic missionaries to rebel and government leaders, are interspersed with the author’s travelogue through a desperate land. The montage manages to convey the horror and hardship suffered by the war’s victims, both those killed, maimed or abducted by the LRA and those forced into overcrowded, unhealthy and ill-defended camps by the dubiously competent Ugandan government. (Many refugees believe that the southern-dominated regime welcomes the excuse to debilitate traditionally hostile northern tribes, a view whose merits the author has trouble evaluating.)
As the book proceeds, the prospect nears of a happy ending. Community militias organize an effective resistance to the LRA. It loses the tacit backing of the Sudanese junta and is forced back to an enclave in the Congo. Peace talks begin. They never quite reach fruition, however. Again and again, the sides reach ostensible agreement, Kony announces that he will appear to sign the final accords, and then he reneges at the last minute. (Another round of this fandango took place after the book went to press, leading to a joint Ugandan-Sudanese-Congolese offensive that may (emphasize “may”) be on the verge of dismantling the LRA at long last.)
A couple of morals are quite plain, though the author not only doesn’t see, but actively denies, them: First, in dealing with enemies on the fringes of rationality, an ounce of military effort is worth many pounds of peace-making initiatives overseen by cosmopolitan do-gooders. Second, the International Criminal Court, which has brought formal charges against Kony and several of his top lieutenants (its very first indictments, in fact), can accomplish nothing. In this case, it may be hindering the attainment of peace, since the LRA’s commanders are, not too surprisingly, unwilling to give themselves up for trial and have demanded the quashing of the indictments as a condition for signing peace terms. Useless at best and counterproductive at worst, the ICC nonetheless has Mr. Eichstaedt’s whole-hearted support, perhaps because, as he reveals in a throwaway paragraph, he hopes to see American leaders someday facing “justice” before it.
Americans pay far too little attention to Africa. Therefore, books like this one can be commended to the importance of their subject and the excellence of their intentions, if not for the quality of their execution.
Rating: 3 / 5