Aboke is a town in the

Kole District Kole District is a district in Northern Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Kole, where the district headquarters are located. Location Kole District is bordered by Lira District to the east, Apac D ...

of the Northern Region of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. It was the location of the

Aboke abductions The Aboke abductions were the kidnapping of 139 secondary school female students from St. Mary's College Secondary school by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 10 October 1996, in Aboke, Kole District (then part of Apac District), Ugand ...

in October 1996.

Location

Aboke is located in ''Akwiridid Parish'', Aboke sub-county,

, in the

Lango sub-region Lango sub-region is a region in Uganda covering an area of 15,570.7km consisting of the districts of: *Alebtong District, Alebtong *Amolatar District, Amolatar *Apac District, Apac *Dokolo District, Dokolo *Kole District, Kole *Lira Distric ...

, in Northern Uganda. It is approximately , by road, north-west of the city of

Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

, the largest urban centre in the sub-region. This is approximately , by road, southeast of the city of

Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The city's distance from Kampala, Uganda's capital and large ...

, the largest urban centre in Northern Uganda. The geographical coordinates of Aboke are:02°21'28.0"N, 32°40'59.0"E (Latitude:2.357778; Longitude:32.683056). Aboke sits at an average elevation of above sea level.

Overview

Aboke lies on the old Lira-Gulu Road, just north of the ''Okole River''. The town is the location of the five-parish ''Aboke sub-county''. The parishes in Aboke sub-county are: (a) Akwiridid (b) Apach (c) Apuru (d) Ogwangacuma and (e) Opeta. The town is also the location of ''St. Mary's College Aboke Girls School'', a residential girls-only secondary school administered by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

nuns. It is at this school that the

occurred on the early morning of 10 October 1996.

Abductions

The

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...

(LRA), the rebel group which started in January 1987 by

Joseph Kony Joseph Rao Kony (born September 1961) is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the MONUSCO, United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments ...

, began as a liberation group aimed at removing the

National Resistance Movement The National Resistance Movement (; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986. History The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla war through its rebel wing National ...

led by

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

from power. In the early 1990s the LRA began to receive support and supplies from the

government of Sudan The Government of Sudan is the Federalism, federal provisional government created by the Constitution of Sudan having executive, parliamentary, and the judicial branches. Previously, a President of Sudan, ''president'' was head of state, head of ...

at that time. The character of the LRA changed. The rebels began to target civilians, mutilating those they thought to be government sympathisers and abducting children as child soldiers and sex slaves. In the early morning hours of 10 October 1996, an estimated 300 rebels of the LRA invaded St Mary’s College Secondary School Aboke and abducted 139 young girls aged 13 to 16 years of age. Sister Rachele Frassera, an Italian nun and deputy headmistress at the school, followed the rebels and negotiated the release of 109 girls. They kept the other 30 as sex slaves for their commanders. Four of the girls died in captivity while the remaining 26 eventually returned to their families in Uganda. Many had babies fathered by the rebels, including Kony. Catherine Ajok escaped on 14 December 2008, when the

Uganda People's Defence Force The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), previously known as the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. From 2007 to 2011, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the UPDF had a total strength of 40,000–4 ...

bombed the LRA base in

Garamba National Park Garamba National Park () is a national park in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo covering nearly . It is among Africa's oldest parks and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 for its protection of critical habit ...

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. She arrived at their base in Dungu in March 2009.

References

External links

Former Aboke Students In Fundraising Drive
As of 11 October 2016. {{coord, 03, 28, 26, N, 32, 04, 04, E, region:UG_type:city, display=title Kole District Populated places in Northern Region, Uganda Cities in the Great Rift Valley Lango sub-region

Location

Overview

Abductions

See also

References

External links