The white of it has gone gray, the blue is faded and the sheeting billows like a flag above the urine soaked ground. Dogs lie in the road so still they might be dead, unfazed even by the buzzing of flies.
A boy hawks rolex, a Ugandan street food made of chapatti and fried egg, from a cloud of dust. The sun is unforgiving. It is just thirty kilometers from Nimule, on the border with South Sudan, and has been buffeted by conflict on both sides of that border since the time of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada. Meanwhile, the second Sudanese civil war raged on nearby, ultimately claiming two million souls.
A state of relative peace has returned to Adjumani. The LRA left Uganda in The promise of amnesty for returned recruits, traditional justice practices, geopolitical dynamics and depleted resources forced them from the country. Attacks in the DRC have been reported as recently as October , but these are nowhere near the scope and scale of previous brutalities.
South Sudan officially established its independence from Sudan in , but conflict erupted two years later, when South Sudanese President Salva Kiir accused Vice President Riek Machar of attempting a coup. Fighting then broke out between the government army and rebel forces, with factions often divided along ethnic lines. Many fled in fear for their lives, making an equally terrifying journey to Uganda.
Henry Amadra , a South Sudanese refugee, recalls the perilous trip. At one point he and his family came to water, and were certain they might be thrown in if unable to explain themselves or bribe soldiers, so risky was movement between countries.
