This is still a repeat of what I said before to you BINANY, together with you LADERA and ODANO. Take it from me that am telling you the truth. Remember that I was also with you and you all know my life history. Whenever I say something, it is always true. I appeal to you BINANY, take your time, turn around and come back with all the people with you in Congo.

Even if you choose to come back without your soldiers, you can just come back alone if you choose. Ask yourself the question; what am I doing? You will realize that you are doing nothing. Just turn around and report anywhere you know that the UPDF are located. You can also go the American Solders or anywhere you are sure that you out of the bush. I guarantee that you will be brought to the Ugandan government.

I appeal to you BINANY, I cannot lie to you. Remember that you were given leadership role to command all the people there. If all those people disappear or lost or they defect before you do, you will suffer the consequences and you will be the one to be sent to prison just like ODEK is suffering. ODEK is currently in prison because of the war.

I know that your soldiers are still there so you just come back home so that you begin anew life, you will go and find your children, I heard that your children are grown up. Some are already in the secondary school. You come back home so that you continue supporting their education and take care of them. That is what I can tell you.

To you LADERA, you also take your time, make a turn and come back to the government so that you start anew life. So that you can be like any other people I found at home. They are here with me and they are not having any problems at all. If you insist that you should first reach Central, or anywhere or up to ODHIAMBO, then you will see what will happen to you, you might just end up in prison. You know what was happening, at the time we were leaving you remember everything. You ODANO, you also know what your wife did to AMUNG’s mother on the day when the army attacked you. You know that your tents were close to each other.

They best solution to that problem is just to come out so that all those problems remain there in the bush. Just come back, your life is very important. I don’t really have much to say but ask you to send the mothers and children back home, and other people who could be with you who are sickly, and even new abductees.

You also know that telling lies is not good. There are people among you both in Congo and Central Africa who want you BINANY to be killed or something bad to happen to you. There are so many of such people.

Even Acellam came out, you did not know why Acellam came out but it was because of such blackmail and people within who keep talking about killing others. They wanted to kill Acellam and that’s why he chose to return.

I also came out of the bush because of the lies among us. Some people keep cooking up issues within the LRA assuming that they know everything happening. That’s why I choose to come out. Am very fine and there is nothing wrong. Before people begin to tell lies about you, just take your time and come out so that you overcome anything bad. So that you leave the liars to talk as they wish. But they will face the law.

I don’t have more to say.

I am called Oryem Michael. I am giving you a personal message. I came out of the bush from you and now with the government. I send my message to Binany who is at Gramba Park or in Congo that you are breaking the law by abducting people, killing people, looting for food and doing things that can cause death on your selves. I ask you Binany to take very good care of your soldiers so that they don’t commit any crimes and lead them to the UPDF, or the UN or MONUC in Duru or Gilima. Just bring all your soldiers there. There is nothing bad they do to people here. Just take your time with all your people and come out of the bush. I don’t have much to say. Thank you.

My name is Oryem Michael, I send a message to you my brothers who are still in the bush in Central Africa. I came out from you and reported to the government, there is nothing to be afraid of and I have not seen any harms.

I appeal to you AC and I know that you listen to the radio everyday and you know everything happening. You also know how you are keeping people in jail with you. You will realize the consequences when all those people around you have escaped and left you alone. Everyone around you have plans even if the other high ranking officers deceive you, you will continue to see people leaving. That’s the way you will be captured or killed so am appealing to you that, AC to defect to the government before they capture you because if they just capture you then you might have a lot to of problems.

I cannot force you to come out but if you feel like then you come out and if you choose to remain there then the people you are mistreating including Opio, olanya who are still in jail Anita, Abucingu and all others in jail.

Instead of mistreating them, you rather just release them or just leave them so that they come out because they are very useful out here.

I don’t have much to say but you people; Olworo, Otim Arwodo, Owilla and Komamech Agura I ask you to come out even if you will say that am telling you lies, come and see for yourself what is happening out here. Even if they want to kill you, come and we die out here, if it is happiness then let’s enjoy it together. I don’t have much to tell you but thank you very much.

I thank the almighty God and all the other people I have been with in all these struggles we have been through, I and others you remember. And as you all know very well, I have been your commander and I have moved through a lot of troubles as you well know and have seen for yourselves.

So, it was on the 12th that I, Acellam Caesar, came out openly and met the UPDF when they were in the bush on assignment and nothing bad happened to me and the comrades I was moving with. I was separated from the people I was with: Oryem, Ojok and Said. And they surely knew what was happening. And my message to all who have remained is to think because most of the time I have told you to follow your heart because it’s your own savior and it can take you to sorrow or joy, that’s when you wish it so. I humbly request that you, whoever finds that life is not fine for you, to make up your mind and move systematically to where the UPDF is and tell them what has brought you and ask them what their thoughts are towards you.

And I have now experienced this because I was not tortured nor was any mistreatment inflicted on me. I found a small group of personnel who used to conduct check-points and ambushes and I talked to them and they passed the information to their commander and they came with brother Opio to meet me and they took me with them to the camp where I met several other people whose names I can’t remember. And as a top most commander and an elder, there wasn’t anything bad about them and I urge you who are still in the insurgency to come out. People were so happy and excited. In Nzara, the people whom I met there wanted to greet me and shake my hand but I felt pain in shaking their hands. I looked right into their eyes and saw nothing bad but only happiness. As I am here, I would like to inform you that I reached safety and most of these people like Okema, Alex were all from the homeland in Uganda and I also met them in Sudan.

For those who are still in the bush, please just think of this because if I only tell you, you may not believe — it is only from your heart that you can be relieved of the suffering.

When I came out of the bush, my family was informed and, by good luck, I found out that my mother was still alive. I remember telling my comrades that I dreamt that my mother was dead. Yet she still lives.

So, you come and see. Do what is good for you and your family. As I continuously inform you that there is nothing bad that has happened to me, follow in my path and inform your comrades. I will be back to tell you what is happening.

Thank you.

I start by thanking all the people and more importantly the almighty God for the showing his greatness by bringing out Soldier Caesar Acellam together with Soldier Opio Makasi and Soldier Okema. We have all come here to meet our former colleague at work with whom we fought very well until when we realized that what we were doing was not going to be beneficial then we choose a better life and now we are working and being treated well, We welcome our fellow fighter, there is nothing bad he has seen happen while here.

I want to tell all of you my brothers and sisters who are still there and being misinformed about the war that see how you feel about the war and do the right thing, don’t allow to be forced to do things against your will. Make up your mind and come out. I am not forcing you but you decide the best thing to do with your life. For us we saw that the war was of no use and choose to come out. We are working very well without being forced and we are not being forced at all. We are working to protect our country and freely provide for our families.

If Acellam Caesar who was a high ranked soldier has also come out then what are you still waiting for? They are trying to inform you through people around you, the radio and even this message you are getting right from me. They are telling you that we are no longer alive but I want to confirm to you that we are alive and this is my voice. Make up your mind and come out. You will see the life we are living. It is very different from the life we had before because we are very fine.

I have no more things to tell you. Use the little information I have given you for your own good or else you will suffer. I don’t have more to tell you.

Dungu Community Interview English Translation Summary:
I am talking to you today, because I am part of this culture
I am Zande, by birth,
Here, where we are, there are no children, but in nearby villages, in the neighborhoods above,
where there are displaced, children that were kidnapped by the LRA
You ask if there are people who got out safely without incidents from the LRA.
There is a family, which we found, they had their stuff burnt,
But now the family, whether the wife, children or their dad, were lucky to leave their village and to arrive here without any problems.
He is here, but now they cannot live as they did in their village, they have nothing, almost nothing here,
but we try to hire them on the construction site so they can have some money, so the children can survive.
Also, some people really have scars from the LRA,
you can find some, for example at the hospital you’ll find mutilated people, they had their mouth, ears, nose cut off.

Interviewer 1: But with this group, what are the effects? You say mothers are displaced, but what are the other effects?

OK, groups here, all the people you see here are from hosted families. For example the dad right here, at the moment, in his house, he has 12 people, they live on his land, they can use his field, they also share the same huts, because as you know in Africa we share the little we have, he doesn’t have enough, but he has to support them. If we start with social effects: we are not used to hosting several people on our lands, but now we have to receive our brothers, and now it is adding up to a lot of people in one family. If we want to handle this mission, we have to be fair, whether Ugandans or Congolese, if they are victims of these atrocities, they should benefit from this support. But if we do it in a way where we separate and help Ugandans, and leave Congolese behind, it would cause problems. But if it’s a fair treatment, I don’t think it would be a problem.

Interviewer 2: You think people here, if you put out messages both in Pazande and Acholi, saying to the local and the Ugandan youth, drop your weapons, people here wouldn’t have a problem with it?

No, I don’t think so, I don’t think the people will have a problem with it. Because the people know the message in Acholi is to speak directly to the Ugandan LRAs. The messages in Pazande, in ? or in ?, is for people the LRA took by force and transformed into LRA, these messages are for them.

Interviewer 2: In Uganda it took a while for them to communicate the message. Kidnapped children are often scared to come back, because when they come back they are attacked, so now they are starting to do songs there to sensitize people and tell them not to attack, and telling soldiers not to be scared to come back. Is it the same here? Because I think I heard of attacks on children trying to surrender.

The reality in Dungu is different from the reality in Uganda. For one, nobody here was an actor in the war coming from the LRA. War came suddenly, and people started dying. And if today, even children taken by the LRA could return, it is the people’s wish. People wish their brothers in the bush could come back. And every day that goes by, when each person goes to “copi”. censors, asking about someone who arrived in a village, could it be a brother? It’s a bit like that. I wanted to bring you to a parcel with displaced people, children who came bad from the bush, these children are now studying at school like other children. LRA came from uganda, far away, crossed kilometers to come to their land. What did the LRA do to kill them like that? If LRA could firstly stop killing them like that. And even if someone fell victim to it, it shouldn’t be vengeance. This is what the population expresses in their songs here. At the same time, songs are meant to commemorate the deaths of men who saved people, who protected the village, we sing for them, to commemorate their death. For example there is a small merchant who used to be here, Mamou, who had a shop around here. You can hear a song now in the village, what did the boys do for this man to go to the bush with them? There is no way, if LRA listens to these songs, since they stay in the bush, [the song] asks if the boys can be freed. Today, maybe certain LRAs could have the courage to come back. But if they know that within the community there are messages geared towards them, telling them to stop the war, I think it would also be a way for LRA to stop doing this.

Interviewer 2: And you think people here would accept peace messages in Acholi, you don’t think people here are too upset?

People are upset indeed, but they are tired of it. People are worried about this LRA phenomenon. If LRA stayed in the bush, and if LRA went away, there would be other ways, other people can use other means to get LRA out of the bush, If there is peace the population will not take vengeance. But the population could take vengeance if they encountered LRA in the bush. This is why we use other means to get LRA out of this area. I don’t think the population here would ever go to war against Uganda or the LRA.

Intro Summary:
This song says that it is Kony who is the leader of the LRA, no one else, he is the one responsible.

Peter Gabriel, Brazilian TV personality Didi Wagner, The Founders of The Voice Project and a crowd of 50,000 at the SWU Music and Arts Festival in São Paulo, Brazil. Recorded Sunday, November 13, 2011.