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Show TheLake Tribune WORLD Sunday, October31, 1999 CHILDREN OF WA At 15, Albanian Soldier Is Veteran of Warfor ‘Ideals of Liberation’ It’s not just the small both in height and build. He has the Wavy hair andbig eyes of a boy hero from a children’s book. Butthis 15-year-old boy, who wouldn't stand a chance of making it onto any high School football team, has an adult’s job. One afternoonin early June, Kastriot was walking down a roadin the northern Al banian town of Krumecarrying a small Thompson machine gun,as washis duty as a soldier in the Kosovo Liberation Army,the ethnic Albanian guerrillas then fighting Serbianforces in Kosovo. 1 joined because of the massacres,” said Kastriot, referringto Serbkillings of Albanian civilians during the struggle between the KLAandthe Serbs. “And now I wantrevenge. I wantto sendthemto the (War Crimes Tribunal at The] Hague. | Rebels Turn consider them criminals. If they were real soldiers, they would fight against sol diers,notcivilians.” During the war, several KLA com- manders interviewed by Newsday in- sisted therewas a strictly enforced policy within the armyofnot allowing people youngerthan18 to join. Some exceptions were made for impatient 17-year-olds, said Selman Lajqi, a former commander in the KLA’s 136th Brigade, but he claimed the rule wasrarely broken. said, making him something ofa veteran p.m. we pushedthe Serbs 300 yards down “After that I took up a position on the vo. In respect for his seniority, he was front line and fought in the trenches that soldiers. When she fell and twisted her ankle in the muddy ground, thechildren aheadof her did not notice and kept walking. ing. They may get the training, but like Patricia, whoat the age of 12 joined leftist guerrillas fighting the Colombian government, they often get more than they bargainedfor. In Patricia’s case, it was a bullet through the shoulder. Given the LRA of Uganda’s claim to be a religious army fighting to install a government based on the teachings of the Bible, the abductionof children and sexual abuseof girls might sound wildly incongruous. But nothing about the LRA or its Before the war, Gulu, the capital city of Gulu District, had a population of about 30,000. Nowit bursts with more than 70,000 people, most of them here because they have been frightened out of theirvillages. “This is how most parents cope: Theysleep in the bush, and the children come and sleep in town, so parental control over children has deteriorated,” said George Omona,director of one of the trauma centers for ex-child soldiers in Gulu. “Children see would emerge peacefully from the bush,free their child soldiers and stop fighting. The rebels have yet to respond, andtheir attacks continue. Counselors in Gulu and parents of abducted children reluctantly agree that amnestyis the only solution. SALT LAKECITY LAYTON LOGAN OGDEN BRIGHAM CITY POCATELLO Alan Young, M. a CCC Aud Latest technology | Complete Thanksgiving Dinner - $1.57 | ra : es Weneed yourhelp to serve our annual Thanksgiving dinner andprovide hot meals andother essential services to hungry, homeless people in the Salt Lake City area this November24th atthe Delta Center and Thanksgiving Day at our missions facility in the Central Christain Church Building, 370 S. 300 E. Forjust $1.57 you can provide a meal and access tosafe day and emergencyshelter, clean clothes and spiritual help that can ff what he did to children like Gri For two years, Grace was be the start of a newlife. forced to live as Ocholi’s “wife” Please help us feedandcare for the hungry, hurting and homeless by mailing your gift today. $15:70helps 10people —_[_] $31.40 cares for 20 people and submit to his sexual demands in between forays into the battlefield. She is not sure which was worse: being a soldier (J $47.10 cares for 30 people or a sexslave. Other$ child by the man she hated. said she began to love the baby “just because it’s a babygirl. Taking care of a boy would have rity of Gulu when they know there is a chance the LRA could been very difficult. It might be justlikeits father.” Grace took the advice of a social worker and named the abduct them again. It’s just as baby Hope. 362.80helps 40 people (_] $157.00 provides 100 meals or essential services She escaped in March 1997. Eight monthslater, she bore a years with the LRA, to be counseled by social workers and whenpossible, returned togtheir families. But it’s not easy to get frightened kids to leave the secu- th old-fashioned care ee ee PASE Cur AND MAIL WITH YOUR GIFT TODAY GEE HE END OE GN Sn OR OE forgive, andthat’s not easy,” said Omona, whoadmits his gut reaction wouldbeto punish Konyfor Whensherealized she was pregnant, Grace’s first thought was to abort the child. “I didn't evenlikethefather,” she said. After the birth, though, she Hundreds of children have been brought to Gulu after their 274-0101 “But that means we have to that their parents cannot protect them. This thing is going to have a long-term effect on this region.” eg E a Matthew McAllester/Newsday Kastriot Gashi, 15, joined the Kosovo Liberation Army when he was 14. Your Hearing Aid Professionals members. year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni bowed to pres- prepared to grant amnesty to Kony and his followers if they given up thoughts of going back to her boarding school or home. “T'm still scared,” she says. The children, boys as well as girls, are not the only casualties said. difficult to get families and communities to take back children who havekilled and brutalized others, including their family Now 17, Betty stays within the agency World Vision and has this part of northern Uganda. Colombia and the Philippines, younggirls areoften enticed into joining the army ora rebel group by promises oftraining in nurs- the Serbs had takenofAlbaniansthey had massacred. run by the international aid dren, girls and young womenfre- diers to get information. In the mountain. We found ammunition and food in the barracks, and we took these sure from opposition politicians, churchleadersandcivilian organizations and announced he was of the LRA’s brutality. The war hasdistorted the entire society of abandoned when they become pregnant or prove too much of a burden to their captors. In Colombia, right-wing paramilitaries use underagegirls as spies who must sleep with enemy sol 13, I was helping with intelligence mat- fighting in the war? “They are happy and pleased that I want to fight for our freedom,” the boy countries engulfed in civil wars quently are forced to becomesoldiers or sex slaves and are taken part in so much death and destruction, Kastriot insists he was not too young. “No.I do not think I was too young.I joined when I was 14. But even when I was supplies. We also found photographs that campaign of ethnic cleansing that the Serbs unleashed onthecivilians of Koso- confines of a Gulu traumacenter that have come to include chil- We were so happy when they finally came.” Despite having witnessed and ers and professionals who joined the army in drovesjust before and during the ll-week NATO bombardment and the students, farm- time in two years she was alone This perspective is not unique to Uganda, or to Africa. In friends were kilied or wounded.It seemed like forever waiting for reinforcements. ters. I joined because I believed in the ideals ofliberation.” He said there were four othershis age in his unit. How do his parents feel about him amongthe inexperienced and sheran. Liberia, Sierra Leone and other “We took Kosare by entering in several groups from different sides of the moun- tain,” Kastriot said. “We were in close radio contact. When weoverranthe Serbian armybarracks that evening around 7:30 @& From Previous Page by venereal disease. trenches even after the outpost was overrun. Hejoined the KLA when hewas14, he Betty looked back and sawthat the rest of the line had not yet rounded the curve. For thefirst raped and perhapsleft infertile were 200 yards from Serbian positions. Wewerefighting with bazookas and automatic weapons. I had my Kalashnikov. It was a difficult fight, and many of my tains and overran the Serb outpostat Kosare. The fighting was intense in the Kastriot maybethe exception, but he’s a startling one. Youths Into Killers, Slaves ex-soldier who haskilled than a female ex-soldier who has been promoted to military policeman. Despite his age, Kastriot was involved in some ofthe heaviest fighting in the war, a major KLAground victory against the Yugoslav army. Several large groups of KLA soldiers pushed through the moun Name — Address Apt City/State/Zip Costs are average and include the expense ofpreparing andproviding meals, SALT LAKE CITY MISSION P.O. Box 142 Salt LakeCity, UT 84110-0142 en i v De ee es OUR 6TH YEAR OF SERVICE TO SALT LAKE Cry St SOE GC war, nowin its 13th year, makes sense. Its leader, Joseph Kony, targets primarily civilian villages as opposed to Ugandan govern ment forces, and he fills his ranks with children whom he uses to mete out the worstatroci ties on people deemed enemiesof the LRA’s cause. Boys andgirls are forced to kill their own parents or one another, or bekilled themselves And while sexual activity between girl soldiers and LRA commanders is encouraged, affection between girl and boy soldiers is punishable by death In camp, Konyharangueschil dren for hours, telling them their army will one day win over Uganda and that the Ten Com mandments will be the rule of law Few believe the LRA could exist if it did not kidnap children to fill its ranks and if the This is the iy place where we look at our children and see a bright future. This is also where you'll find some of the finest pediatric care. Sudanese government did not allow it to operate from southern Sudan. Kony has no political or economic ideology to attract adult followers, and northern Uganda's children are easy and pliable targets. The region is largely rural, dotted with iso. lated villages occupied by extendedfamilies with dozens of children running free in the fields and tending crops on their own. Those lucky enough to get a good education are often in boarding schools, which are favorite LRA targets because of the number of obedient young girls found in them. Betty Ejang, then 13, was in such a school when it was attacked at about 2 a.m. one November morning in 1996 by LRA soldiers whoburst into the dormitory where she slept with dozens of classmates, They were marched through the night into southern Sudan for military training. One of the reasons we enjoy such a high quality oflife is the exceptional care weprovide our children, Physicians at Intermountain Health Care provide someofthe most advancedpediatric care available anywhere. For example, critically ill or injured children are brought to IHC network hospitals for our renownedtrauma care. Nationally recognizedin the quality of healthcare, IHC is developing thousands of ways to continually improve the level of care at our facilities. We're currently conducting clinical studies to benefit children with asthma, rheumatic fever and genetic birth defects, to namejust a few. All of which gives us peace of mind knowing our families will be takencare of, and makes us gladto call this place home When she was notfighting Betty was oneof several children picked by Kony to tend to his per sonal needs, which included clip: www.ihecom ping his toenails and fingernails and combing out his dreadlocked Inc only when he wanted something done, and she refused to say if herduties included sex. Betty escaped after two years INTERMOUNTAIN hair, She said he spoke to her as she marched, gun slung over HEALTH CARE 4, hospitals and health plans working together for you her shoulder, in a line of young » é /_ _ L THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS KRUME, Albania blond down covering Kastriot Gashi’s upber lip that makes look young. He’s POORCopy) |