Child Soldier Documentary Enrages Uganda Government

Amnesty International

Uganda Movie Angering the Uganda Government

Copenhagen Post Online 11 November 2005

The Ugandan government is trying to censor a Danish documentary that tells the story of a former child soldier in the African country

A Danish documentary has become a thorn in the side of the Ugandan government, which is trying to have the film changed, national broadcaster DR reported.

Both Uganda's ambassador in Denmark, Omar M. Lubulwa, and President Museveni's personal senior consultant have repeatedly tried to stop the film, which they call 'pure fabrication'.

'We have told the Ugandan ambassador that we took his protests and rejection into consideration, but that they have not given us reason to remove as much as a comma from the film,' said producer Lise Lense-Møller, from the production company Magic Hour Films.

'In the Footsteps of the Soldier' tells the story of Steven Ndugga, a refugee in Denmark.

Ndugga narrates of his past as a child soldier in Uganda, and how he lost his wife to the Ugandan intelligence agency's torturers.

The film also describes how children are recruited by the government forces. The Ugandan Embassy has criticised the film harshly and attempted to convince its sponsors, the Danish Film Institute and national broadcaster DR, to withdraw their support.

The embassy sent out a fax casting doubt on whether Ndugga's wife ever existed, and claims the film team are both imprecise and untrustworthy.

None of the parties involved have withdrawn from the project, so the documentary premiered as scheduled on the opening night of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, where it is nominated in the category Amnesty Awards, as a film dealing with important political and human rights issues.

The protagonist, Steven Ndgugga, disappeared during the filming, when he returned to Uganda to search for his 10-year-old son, after finding out that he was alive and serving as a soldier. Ndugga said his plan was to rescue him.

DR's online news service attempted to get a response from Lubulwa, but he declined to comment further on the case.

In 2003, international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch documented on-going recruitment of Ugandan children into Local Defence Units, which were intended to provide security for local villages, but were reportedly used to fight alongside government forces against rebel forces, which mostly consist of kidnapped child soldiers.

Urbane Analysis: Child soldiers are a very touchy subject for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. And now comes this report: "The protagonist, Steven Ndugga, disappeared during the filming, when he returned to Uganda..."

Here we go again - people disappear in Uganda when they dare speak out about the regime - when will news media focus on that issue? Oh, and in the interests of full disclosure of facts and circumstances related to this case, here is the statement in rebuttal of this documentary by Ugandan Ambassador to Denmark Omar Migadde Lubulwa. It sets forth a completely different explanation of this controversy, a difference of opinion which has as question number one: where is Steven Ndugga? Uganda should be moving heaven and earth right now to verify that this man is alive - and then let loose the news media on him about this controversy. Uganda can afford to hire the most prestigious public relations firm - Hill & Knowlton, and have documentaries made about them care of Cable News Network. They might want to get savvy about this documentary before it starts making the rounds of film festivals in cities hosting the Gulu Walk - because if they don't, Steven Ndugga's story might touch a match to the growing tinder of resentment worldwide at the situation in Uganda - brought about by the Uganda governmental regime's own actions. In other words, regardless of the fact-checking which may be lacking in the Steven Ndugga documentary - it is emblematic of the human cost of abject incompetence, corruption and imperiousness which stymies progress in Uganda at the cost of misery and suffering by over half of the twenty five million people in that country.