By Will Ross BBC Uganda reporter

Lillian Odokarach is now back in northern Uganda after eight years in captivity with the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA).

It is difficult to imagine what she endured during those years.

Aged 17 she was abducted from her home in Kitgum District in 1994 and once in southern Sudan was forced to become a "wife" to Joseph Kony, the rebel leader.

She was not alone in that role as Joseph Kony is thought to have at least 60 wives.

Since March, the Ugandan army has been pursuing the LRA in order to defeat the rebels militarily.

The army has also said it will attempt to rescue as many of the thousands of the abducted Ugandans as possible.

Smile returns

Just over three months ago, Lillian left the rebel camps in southern Sudan, just days before the Ugandan army started its offensive.

Heavily pregnant she travelled to Juba in order to deliver her baby, leaving behind the two children she had given birth to whilst in captivity.

The LRA have kidnapped hundreds of children

Once her third child was born, Lillian Odokarach was held in a child trauma centre in Juba while humanitarian agencies attempted to bring her back to Uganda.

At first they struggled to convince her to leave Sudan because that meant abandoning her two children with the rebels.

Once Lillian Odokarach had come round to the idea of rebuilding her life back in Uganda, she was flown home and will now receive counselling in Kitgum.

According to the humanitarian agencies who organised her return, Lillian and her baby appear healthy and Lillian has started doing something which did not happen much while in Juba: smiling.

Impossible task

Her ordeal is one example of the havoc Joseph Kony and his LRA have caused to the lives of thousands of northern Ugandans.

You can be sure that with so many other wives Joseph Kony won't have too much trouble forgetting the one that got away.

But as every day goes by, Lillian Odokarach will be thinking of her two children still in the hands of the rebels.

To put it bluntly, the Ugandan army faces a tough task defeating the rebels.

And a seemingly impossible one ensuring abductees are given a chance to escape.

But some will never judge the operation a success unless the likes of Lillian's two innocent children are brought back alive.