The Woman Who Befriended a Warlord
When Betty Bigombe was growing up in northern Uganda in the late 1950s, she walked four miles a day to go to school. She knew getting an education was the only way she could change her life and make a contribution to her community.
Thirty years later her “contribution” would be to carry the fate of her region on her shoulders as she attempted to negotiate peace with Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Bigombe was the eighth of 11 children and grew up in a society where polygamy is still practised today.
to me was all very bloody. Of course, I couldn’t even touch it.”
Not deterred, Bigombe decided to write back to Kony. She referred to him as “my son” and used religion as a way of connecting with him. Eventually Kony agreed to meet her. She feared he would have her tortured and resolved to kill herself rather than be captured by him. Deep in the jungle they met for the first time.
“He was guarded, there was church music, some men were dressed as nuns and had guns. They were singing hymns and falling down, [saying] that the demon was coming out of them. The scene was just incredible. He was wearing military uniform. He definitely came ready to intimidate.”
In the next 18 months, during several face-to-face meetings, Kony started calling Betty “Mummy Bigombe”.
Eventually he agreed to come out of the jungle for peace talks with President Museveni. Bigombe went to the president and told him they needed to establish the conditions for the peace talks. Instead Museveni went to a public rally and threatened Kony - telling him to come out immediately or face the wrath of government troops. Kony and his forces responded by massacring 300 people in a trading centre on the border with Sudan.
Bigombe resigned and left for the US.
“I was very devastated. I had a breakdown on the plane. It was a very painful defeat, but it wasn’t about me - it was the suffering of the people,” she says. - BBC News