{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series eighty five }

Friends

Fr. Carlos Rodriguez wrote a very interesting piece under a heading "The Northern Uganda War: The "Small  Conflict" that became the world's worst hujmatarian crisis"  under this writting, I need us to pay particular attention to a sub-heading "A war againist civillians" Friends this is what Acholi did to their very own people, and again I encourage you to wonder on only one thing, if Acholi terorized their very own people this way, how worse can they terrorize you as a Mukiga on a road block in Kawempe? We are posting from page 82

Fellow Ugandans, we need to start discussing Acholi violence but candidly.

 

A war against civilians

As it happens often with modern warfare, this is a war

where the vast majority of its victims are innocent

civilians, particularly the most vulnerable ones like

women and children. Although the overall number of

people killed during these 18 years may not go

beyond 150,000, which makes the figures look

modest in comparison with death tolls in other

conflicts such as Sudan and Congo, dozens, or even

hundreds of people have been massacred at a time by

the LRA. The list is endless: Over two hundred in Atiak

(April 1995), more than one hundred in Acholpii

Sudanese Refugee Camp (July 1996), four hundred in

Lamwo (January 1997), fifty in Mucwini (July 2002),

ninety in Lapono (October 2002), three hundred in

Barlonyo (February 2004) and recently (May 2004)

eighty in Pagak and Lukode.

Many civilians have been brutally maimed or have lost

their limbs as a result of stepping on landmines.

Travelling through almost all roads is a great risk

because of indiscriminate ambushes. This makes

normal social and economic life extremely difficult.

Child abduction

Because of the population's lack of support, the LRA

has always resorted to massive child abduction as

practically the only means to beef up their forces. By

2002, UNICEF estimated that, since 1994, the LRA

had abducted about 20,000 persons, mostly children,

and forced them to undergo military training in their

bases in Sudan. Many of these young unwilling

soldiers have also been used to fight the SPLA.

Disappointingly, while one of the justifications for the

launching of Operation Iron Fist was "to rescue the

abducted children", it has instead resulted in an

unprecedented increase in child-abductions. It is

estimated that, since mid-2002 up to the end of 2003,

the number of abductions was well over 10,000.

Since the year 2002, a new phenomenon known as

"child night-commuters" has become an outstanding

feature of this conflict. It is estimated that more than

40,000 children trek from their homes every evening

into the relative safety of the main towns like Gulu

and Kitgum.

By some reliable estimates, at least 80% of the LRA

forces are made up of young people who did not choose

to join the rebel ranks. Moreover, there is now a whole

generation of very young children who have been born

in the LRA captivity and have known no other home than the rebel gangs. Many who try to escape are

caught and killed on the spot by their own

fellow-abductees, who are compelled to carry out these

atrocities. Deeply traumatised, those who come back

home after escaping face a hard life of reintegration

since their former communities are destroyed. Many

find that their parents have been killed and opportunities

to continue with their studies are scarce. The

situation is even worse for girls and young women

who come back from rebel captivity, most pregnant or

with children of their former captors.

A high number of these abducted children end up

being killed in armed confrontation with the UPDF,

particularly when helicopter gunships are used. This

explains why regularly the Army announces that only

few hundred rebels remain, only to say five or six

months later that they have killed twice or thrice that

previous figure. At times some of these returnees are

also pressurised to join the UPDF.

 

 

Stay in the forum for Series eighty-six on the way   ------>

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"