{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series One-Hundred and sixty-three}

Friends

 

One of the men inside jumped through the opened window, and was shot to death instantly. Laloyo was pulled out of his hiding place behind the opened door, and one of the LRA started shouting orders at him. 'It was a very small mean looking rebel you could take for any village child,'38 Laloyo remembers. 'He dragged me out of the hut and said; 'if you dare run, I am going to shoot and kill you.'39 By then, Lukodi had already turned into an inferno. 'All round there were killings going on and so much fire burning, that the entire place became so bright as though it was broad daylight,'40 Laloyo recalls. other valuables. Some women and children who had been captured were being prepared for departure. Some rebels were checking the houses which had not been burnt to ensure that nothing was left. They were also checking to ensure that all the dead people were actually dead. They were checking to make sure that no stone had been left and unturned. The barracks had also been burnt up. As for the civilians, if you were caught you would simply be killed. The rebels would push you and your children into your house and burn you all alive.

 

As we continue with Acholi violence, it is important you take note on terms used in these reports. They burn people alive, they torch towns and locales, yet these were Acholi killing Acholi. So Acholi were packing their fellow Acholi into houses and torching them alive. What is frustrating is that to today, The George Okello and Simon Okurut of today see no violence among these friends, the only man they know that committed violence into Northern Uganda is Museveni and NRA. Justice and Reconciliation project of Gulu, wrote a paper entitled The Lukodi Massacre: 19th May 2004  and listed as JRP Field Note XIII, April 2011.  We are posting from page 11

 

Ugandans we need to discuss Acholi violence candidly.

 

 

The Massacre

The people who perished in my home were my loved ones with whom I had lived all my life. It was a horrible scene. I felt like a mad person.22 th O the danger at hand. One woman remembers how in the morning hours a boy came to warn her that he had seen some unfamiliar uniformed men around River Unyama. The boy's fear had been heightened after he climbed a hill and saw the rebels heading in the direction of Lukodi. All this had led him to believe that the rebels were about to attack. 'Mama Olony,' he said, 'pinye nen tin garo garo', loosely translated as: 'the atmosphere today appears tense and full of uncertainties'.23 The detach commander is also said to have received intelligence of the LRA's presence, and passed it on to the local leaders, who were in the process of warning the people just before the LRA attacked. The residents of Lukodi however went about their daily routine, oblivious to the catastrophe that was about to befall them. A of the two, a young boy, had just escaped from the LRA and wanted to surrender. This formerly abducted child told the local leader he had escaped from Paicho, a village close by, and noted that the LRA were just around Atoo Hills. The young boy wanted to return to his parents. Following standard procedures of handling returnees by the local leaders at the time, Laloyo notified the army detach in the camp that a boy had returned. He was lucky to find the boy's aunt at the trading center. Together with this aunt and another soldier, they went to deliver the boy to the detach. At the detach, the home-guards were just performing their evening parade. 'Little did we know that the rebels had also lined up and were observing us from Lukodi hills,'24 mentions Lamony.

 

The LRA had already reached Lukodi, and where carefully observing the movements of the Government soldiers, as the local home-guards organized themselves to return to the camp, where they would spend the night. At about 6pm, as sunset neared, the rebels advanced towards Lukodi from the east; The rebels divided themselves into three groups. The first group came and engaged the soldiers in combat and with time, overpowered them. The second group targeted the civilians and started killing them. The third group was taking cattle and other things that they needed to help them in the bush such as food, clothing and other valuables. The group that was killing the civilians was also burning houses and at the same time looking for valuable items to take along. Meanwhile, the fighting was going on.25 'One group curved through the southern part of the village, another group went through the middle and the third group curved through the northern part of Lukodi. In this way we formed a bow shape [on either side of the village]. As soon as all these groups had drawn nearer to Lukodi, the middle group blew whistles.'26 Amako explains. The other groups responded by blowing whistles as well, and the LRA opened fire upon the population of Lukodi. The attack completely surprised Laloyo and the others, who were still on their way to deliver the boy to the official authorities. Suddenly, the whole of Lukodi was filled with ululations, shouts and whistles. 'All of us got confused. 'It wasn't just a single whistle being blown; there were so many of them at the same time. Then as soon as the whistles ceased, gunshots broke out in powerful bursts, together with the explosion of bombs. On hearing that, all of us started running towards any direction that came to our minds. It wasn't a moment for thinking or making sense of anything.'27 The people who fled all headed towards the valley. Some of them got injured along the way. We all fled and then later met in the bush where we had gone to hide.

 

Even if you had left a child, your wife, or any other valuables at home, you would not return to pick them. This is because the rebels had overpowered the soldiers. They had engaged the soldiers in combat from the barracks, and forced them to retreat to the outskirts of the camp. So the rebels were in control of the camp. The Government soldiers fled to the centre and then over the hill. The rebels were simply too many for the soldiers. Martina's husband, who was picking mangoes in the compound when the rebels attacked, immediately realized what was going on. He was an old man, and therefore did not expect the LRA to harm him. He stayed where he was, but ordered his children to run. 'By instinct,' Martina recalls, ' I also got out of the hut, and entered into a pit latrine that was just a few meters deep because it was still under construction.'29 Her daughter-in-law with her two children, her brother-in-law and her daughter who was breastfeeding her baby, remained hiding inside the house. 'At first the rebels ran past my house, as rmy detach,'30 Martina ght, the rebels did not eanwhile, Laloyo was my detach as well. He from the Government itnessed most of the abandoning the detach I do not know whether ere trained to defend s with a bitter sense of em remained. They all -guards had lost control as the LRA attacked. here the detach was, d some bullets towards ging at us,' remembers. In the twi notice her hideout. running towards the a hoped to find protectio forces, but instead remaining home-guard as fast as they could. ' that was how they themselves,' he remar sarcasm, 'but none of ran away.'31 The home of the situation as soo 'The LRA didn't know but as soon as we fir them, they came cha remembers. The deta his men to take cove obeyed his orders, but they did not stand a cha As Lamony recalls, 'Th 32 Lamony h commander ordered in the adaki. 33 They nstantly came to realize nce against the rebels. rebels headed straight for us.

 

If you didn't have real courage, you couldn't stand firm.' 34 Terrified, the homeguards ordered their wives to abandon the detach as soon as possible, and soon most of them gave up the fight as well. Lamony remembers how he tried to withstand the rebels as long as he could. Out of the thirty eight ho The main road at Lukodi village. Many of the residents fled westwards after the LRA had attacked, crossed this road and sought refuge in the valley. At this point even our own commander had already fled the area. I stayed until I couldn't hold it anymore and started running. The rebels had spread everywhere; most of the huts were now burning.35 A efeating the home-guards, the LRA embarked on plundering the village without any i coincidence that the attack started when it was still daylight. The LRA wanted to make sure all could see clearly that they had the upper hand in the area. 'We wanted to show them that UPDF were very inferior to us. What happened in Lukodi clearly demonstrated that the UPDF were indeed useless. We came and carried out our operation in Lukodi and not a single one of us was killed,' 36 narrated Olong. Laloyo ran from the detach in a bid to escape from the LRA. 'I ran until the gunshots became too much for me to bear. There were so many rebels that I could not cross the road, so I entered a hut.'37 It turned out three people were already hiding there, when the rebels kicked their door open. One of the men inside jumped through the opened window, and was shot to death instantly. Laloyo was pulled out of his hiding place behind the opened door, and one of the LRA started shouting orders at him. 'It was a very small mean looking rebel you could take for any village child,'38 Laloyo remembers. 'He dragged me out of the hut and said; 'if you dare run, I am going to shoot and kill you.'39 By then, Lukodi had already turned into an inferno. 'All round there were killings going on and so much fire burning, that the entire place became so bright as though it was broad daylight,'40 Laloyo recalls. other valuables. Some women and children who had been captured were being prepared for departure. Some rebels were checking the houses which had not been burnt to ensure that nothing was left. They were also checking to ensure that all the dead people were actually dead. They were checking to make sure that no stone had been left and unturned. The barracks had also been burnt up. As for the civilians, if you were caught you would simply be killed. The rebels would push you and your children into your house and burn you all alive.41 W happening outside, but she heard all too clearly how the rebels came to the hut where her family members had hoped to find shelter.

 

The LRA was on its way back from the detach and abducted the people they met on the way. The old man Martina had married years before would soon befall the same fate. The rebels ordered him to get food from the granary, and forced him to carry it on his head for them. Gunshots were being fired everywhere, and this forced Martina to remain inside the pit. She heard how after taking her husband, the rebels now ordered her daughter-in-law to get out of the hut with her baby. They told the girl to carry luggage as well. The girl however, refused. In a desperate attempt to make the rebels leave her alone, she claimed the child had measles, and would contaminate them if she came out. Her defense was useless as the rebels threatened to kill her instantly. When she finally got out of the hut, they ordered her to leave her child with her uncle inside. It was at that moment that the rebels set fire to the large family hut. Martina's brother-in-law, her second daughter-in-law together with her two children and her daughter's child whom she had been ordered to leave behind, were all set ablaze. The LRA was indiscriminate in their killing. They (LRA) were here to kill an into a polythene bag and suffocate the child to death. There was an elderly lady who was very sick. When the rebels came, the people who were taking care of her fled. This lady was so sick that she could not run. The LRA came and despite the fact that she was helpless they killed her. The rebels simply went about killing everyone that they found. If they found you drunk they would just kill you. If they told you to carry some luggage for them and you refused they would kill you. If they were suspicious of you they would kill you on allegations that you were a Government spy.42 y helicopter arrived at around 9pm and ho o rebels. By this time however, the rebels had made their way out of the village. As many civilians continued to hide in the bush throughout the night, Martina came out of the pit latrine, and saw what had happened to her village. 'I was shocked at what lay before my eyes,' she recalls. 'All along as I had hidden in that unfinished pit latrine, I had heard the wails of my people, and the explosion of gunfire. But I had never imagined that in my home alone, the lives of five people were being brutally brought to an end!'43 The whole operation lasted about one hour, according to many respondents, and afterwards the LRA departed, leaving behind a scene of death and destruction. In the words of one respondent, 'by the time they left, the whole camp was littered with dead bodies as if they had been on a hunting spree. They killed people as if they were hunting animals and not human beings.' A children. Respondents even told us, how just before leaving, the rebels also took a large number of mothers, after forcing some of them to trample upon their own children and set huts on fire. Martina's husband and her daughter-in-law, Laloyo the camp leader, and Amaro, a young girl were among the many people taken by the rebels. As the people of Lukodi mourned and grieved for their loved ones, the rebels and their captives were already several kilometers away from the village. These captives were all given large amounts of luggage to carry and were constantly beaten, while some of them, especially those who were too weak to walk, were later killed. Pursued by the UPDF soldiers, they walked through the bush for a long time. The rebels eventually split up again into three different groups which then headed in different directions. Most of these captives were eventually able to escape after the UPDF engaged the rebels in battle. While some of them returned home tired but unscathed, others like Amaro fell victim to rape at the hands of LRA soldiers. Many civilians spent their night in the bush, too terrified to return to the o came trickling out of their hiding places, only to be met by scenes of death and destruction which had been wrought by the LRA. In just a few hours time, the LRA had killed a large number of people, looted all the food and property they could find, mutilated civilians and abducted a large number of people. All around the village, people wailed and cried when they were confronted with the massive scale of the brutalities. Several respondents mention how they were never the same again after the shock of that morning. Walking around what was left of the village, most of them were totally devastated by what had taken place in the village where they had lived most of lives. For people like Martina, nothing, but heaps of ashes were left of her own family. A man walks round the graveyard where he buried his mother, father, and two siblings. On the morning after the massacre, survivors had to hurriedly bury the dead in shallow graves such as the one indicated above. Photo Credit: JRP huts and those that attempted to cry had had guns pushed through their open mouths and the back of their heads had been shattered by bullets. The corpses of the adults and children were all mixed together and we had to separate them for the burial, in five different graves.

 

The Aftermath

The gruesome manner in which the rebels killed and burned people in Lukodi that day, makes it hard to establish the exact number of victims of the massacre. Some of the bodies of people who died in the bushes, were only recovered in the weeks, months or years afterwards. However, most survivors mention a total of approximately sixty people killed. On top of that, a number of people are still missing up to date. Most of the abducted men never returned from the bush. Martina's husband is unfortunately still among these missing persons. After more than six years, she has come to realize he may never return home. 'On that day, my husband was abducted, and he has never come back,' she tells. 'He was in his late sixties. Do you think such a person is living up to now? corpses and carcasses combined to make the village stink horribly. There was no way anybody could stay here. It was a very painful incident.4

 

Everywhere you turned, the civilians were confronted by the ghastly scenes of burning houses and corpses that littered any homesteads. 'As we moved around, the smell of dead bodies ted burying their dead. We buried all of them here without attempting to distinguish between who was from Lukodi and who was not. Exhu day af own 'doctors'50 from the ala went to the scene of the massacre. They I recall the body of a woman that we exhumed. She had been horribly killed. They had smashed her skull and her eyes were just popping his exhumation and reburial took an entire day. The motive of the exhumation remains a puzzle to the community of corpses and carcasses combined to make the village stink horribly. There was no way anybody could stay here. It was a very painful incident.47 here they m filled the air around here,' Martina recalls. 'Over two hundred huts were totally razed down.' 48 The atmosphere was tense and the majority of the survivors were too frightened to stay behind to accord any decent burials to their dear ones. Only a few men from Lukodi volunteered and hastily dug shallow graves for the dead bodies the next morning, and buried them. They did not have the time to decently bury the people. The whole camp was littered with corpses. The strong hearted people immediately star Even strangers who were passing on the road came and helped us. The burials were carried out very quickly. There was no time to bury the dead people properly. You would simply find a piece of cloth wrap the dead body of your relatives in it, dig a shallow grave and then place their bodies in it. Many people could not afford to get coffins in a hurry. I buried my brother and the other relatives using blankets, bed sheets, and other pieces of cloth that we could find at that time. There was no time to carry out traditional rituals in line with Acholi culture. People were afraid that the LRA would come back and that is why the burials were carried out hurriedly. Some of the bodies were not properly covered up and the dogs feasted on them.

 

The dogs began feasting on the bodies even before the burials were conducted.

 

 

Stay in the forum for Series One hundred and sixty-four 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"