evidence: This finding is quite striking, especially because it is widely accepted that the Uganda People’s Army (UPA) became quite violent against civilians. As one civilian explained: "Once the rebellion was well underway, life was at the mercy of the rebels. If anything leaked, you don’t survive. The government had not spent the time to build systems to reach the people."Footnote 63 Another civilian explained similarly about the UPA’s recruitment process, "Initially, recruitment was voluntary – they wouldn’t beat you if you refused them. Later, they became harsh."Footnote 64 A UPA leader corroborated these accounts about the evolution of their treatment of civilians with surprising frankness. He said, "We started with our own people, and tell them [the rebellion] is for their benefit … Anyone seen as being anti UPA gets punished. But that comes in later."Footnote 65 Indeed, when talking about 1989, when attacks and large-scale UPA-government violence were underway, he said: "We would execute people who provide information [to the government]."Footnote 66 These patterns are also generally reflected in newspaper accounts of violence against civilians during the UPA rebellion. As Figure 4.4 shows, violence against civilians was quite limited in the initial year of the rebellion, increasing substantially in the second half of 1988 and 1989, once the war was well underway.