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. Kampala, Uganda.

The 'Petti-Brigade' Fared Badly in the NRA

Several Stories in the army magazines Tarehe Sita of the years 1987-1994 seem to agree with China's impression of the women's wing of the National Resistance Army (NRA). A special story about women in the NRA in Volume 6. N0.3 March 1992 stands out most. The story was written by the late Major Ondoga Oris Amaza.

The majority of the girls/women who joined the women's wing at Bombo joined the struggle in Fort Portal around 1985. The girls were referred to in army circles as the Kyamukwese girls. Since China joined around the same time in western Uganda, she was most likely one of the lot.

Ondoga wrote that most of these girls joined the war, not because they loved it and wanted to take part in the struggle, but rather more out of fascination and excitement. Many of them were school going girls, thus kadogos. When the women's wing was opened up in February 1990, the majority of them already had children.

"Some had as many of four kids, all for different fathers in the army," Ondoga wrote. In her story, China said that she had all along looked at the women with children and wondered. Just like China, Ondoga gave a desolate portrayal of the women's wing. China called the action of putting the women under one roof, "sweeping them under the carpet," a statement not far from what Ondoga wrote.

"The women's wing turns out to be a mere façade for total absence of a military structure," Ondoga wrote. He explained that training was wanting. There were no military parades, no part one orders and no serious routine as in any other barracks. Instead, the women, with their children crying out in the dorms, came out every Saturday to clean their wing. Most of the time, they showed their frustrations by quarrelling with each other and sometimes using fists.

Coupled with the absence of administrative structures, discipline was at such a low ebb. At one time, each of them was on her own, with a couple of her children, whose officer parents could not care less.

China got her child in 1991, to the late Lt. Colonel Moses Drago Nyanzi. The many children from each of the female soldiers indicate high-level sexual abuse in the NRA at the time. Because of this, quite a number of women soldiers are known to have deserted the NRA. Those that remained would have left but for the uncertain future awaiting them out there. This explains the desperation among NRA soldiers at the time. At around that time, many of them were retired in the army and given the equivalent of $500 to begin new lives. With four children and above, this was very little. Under such background, an army officer who joined the revolution as way back as 1981 referred to the women as a petti-coat brigade. Painful, though it sounded, it was true to an extent.

In another issue, as late as January 27 1998, several un-named women officers accused male officers of abusing them and dumping them, with lots of illegitimate children. One of the female officers only refereed to as Jane, said, "They called us dry ration, and that we were there to supply men," she said.

Ondoga summarised by saying, "When all is said and done, the plight of the women combatants in the NRA is the plight of the women, not only of Uganda, but also Africa and the third world."

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