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

Friends

 

A two year old child of a woman called Esther started coughing incessantly. The coughing irritated the rebels to the point that one of them remarked, 'this child will make us to be caught.' Esther was ordered by the commander of the rebels to 'go and throw her child into the bush.' As she moved to obey the command, the rebel chief changed his mind and told her to place the child on the veranda of a hut next to which the captives had been gathered. Esther was told to rejoin the group of captives, and as she did so, the rebels flashed bright light into the eyes of the frightened child telling her, 'if you cry right now we are going to kill you.' The child continued crying and was immediately picked up by a rebel soldier and battered to death against the post of the hut. The above incident was later to turn into a painful slaughter of 6 other children at the hands of their own mothers. One mother recalled being forced to participate in the killing of her own child; He (the commander) told us that whoever was there with a child should un-strap them and start to smash them. Seven of us were ordered to smash the children on the veranda. I had a girl who was five years old. There were three women and myself who were ordered to kill ground.12 my daughter. The LRA surrounded us with pangas.16 If you were doing it slowly they would threaten to kill you.17 In total, about 21 people are said to have died in and around Okullu's compound. A traumatized survivor recalled the scene after the killings had taken place, "I was too shocked to cry. I could not easily stand the sight of smashed brains mixed with blood. I felt dizzy and shivered all over."18 After the slaughter, the rebels ordered the survivors, now numbering about 35 in total, to begin walking eastward in the direction of another village called Akara.

 

As I struggle and  so hard, but to kindly educate the Simon Peter Okurut's about Acholi violence, one of the massacres that has astounded me about Acholi is the Mucwiini massacre. Yes Mucwiini has a larger history than being a birth place of Olara Otunnu, it had a massive massacre  that has taken me a full week agonizing if I should post it publicly for it is too violent.  Because I am finding it so hard for members like Okurut to realize that we have violence in Acholi, I am going to start posting some of the studies I had decided not to post so that somehow maybe, I can get through to the Okuruts of today, that what is happening in Acholi land is violence, and not what is happening in Canada. And in such a change this is the first series among those I had decided not to post. Justice and Reconciliation Project Field Note 8, November 2008 Gulu District NGO forum wrote a report about Acholi violence under a heading Massacre in Mucwini, we are posting from page 51.

 

Ugandans we need to discuss Acholi violence but candidly.

 

EVENTS PRECEDING THE MASSACRE

At the heart of the contentious story of the Mucwini massacre is an intractable debate between two clans – the Pajong and Pubec. Both clans had their villages located in Pajong Parish in the outskirts of the present day Mucwini camp. Prior to the massacre, it was a small trading center with 6 parishes4 in the surrounding area. The massacre would force people to flee their villages and to establish a camp at the trading centre. Although many people have begun the process of resettling to satellite camps in this period of relative calm, others continue to live in the camp to date. The Pajong and Pubec had been involved in a long running dispute over ownership of a large expanse of farmland located in Pajong Parish with both clans laying claim based on cultural heritage. This dispute eventually culminated in a court ruling favouring the Pajong in 1994. After this ruling, a middle aged man from the Pubec clan named Omara5 reportedly declared that he would continue fighting a 'silent war'6 against the Pajong. Omara was a veteran soldier who had served in the Ugandan army during the 70s and 80s. Upon discharge, he turned to farming and running a petty trade business which required him to frequently travel to neighbouring camps to buy or sell his products. On the afternoon of 21 July 2002, Omara was abducted by a group of LRA soldiers while on his way to conduct trade in Orom. As a precautionary measure, people abducted by the LRA usually do not reveal their true identities, those of their relatives or the location of their homes to prevent revenge killings in the event of their escape. It is alleged that on abduction, the rebels interrogated Omara in an effort to obtain his name, the location of his home village, and the identity of his parents and relatives, as is standard LRA practice. Respondents claim that while Omara gave his real name, he lied to the rebels and claimed that he was from the rival Pajong clan, identifying his parents as Okullu Emmanuel and Acan Dora. Okullu Emmanuel was an influential elder and leader of the Pajong clan, and Acan Dora was his wife.

 

Omara is said to have also described the house of Okullu Emmanuel as one that was roofed with iron sheets. The rebels moved with Omara until dusk when they stopped to camp for the night. As they went about their preparations, Omara waited for an opportune moment, and then grabbed one of the guns that the rebels had placed on the ground. He fired a few shots and thereafter escaped from the camp as the rebels and the other abductees took cover in fear of getting shot. The rebels did not pursue him immediately, knowing that he was armed and dangerous. However since he had revealed the location of his home, they knew they would be able to follow him later. The LRA commander in charge communicated with the LRA high command in Sudan to report the incident. A now demobilized LRA soldier recalled in an interview with JRP that he overheard General Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, instructing the commander in charge to carry out an attack on Omara's village and 'slaughter everything that breathed.'7 Conflicting versions of the story following Omara's escape from the LRA emerge as narrated to us by respondents. One version claims that Omara ran all night until he reached the army detach in Namokora, where he handed in the gun he had come away with and was debriefed by the Ugandan army. Other respondents claim that after his escape Omara passed through his village and alerted his clan members of the possibility of a retaliatory attack before proceeding to the army detach in Namokora. After being debriefed, respondents also allege that the army aided him in leaving the area that night and fleeing to Kitgum Town and shortly afterwards to Bweyale town in Masindi District where he was recruited into the Ugandan army. Omara never returned to Mucwini again. His relatives in Mucwini told JRP researchers that although Omara has since retired from the army, he still lives in Bweyale and works as a bicycle repairer.

 

THE MASSACRE

On the evening of the 23 July 2002, a group of LRA rebels advanced towards Mucwini from the Northeast, intent on finding the home of Omara located in Pajong Parish. As is standard prior to targeted attacks, the LRA first conducted recognizance, abducting civilians to learn of the location of Omara's home. At about 7:00 pm in the village of Alok-Ki-Winyo which is a few miles Northeast of Pajong Parish, many of the residents were just settling down to partake in the evening meal and retire for the night when the rebels suddenly appeared in their midst. The rebels quickly rounded up and abducted civilians from their homesteads before continuing on their way to Pajong Parish. The village of Lajara lay along their path, and as they went through it, the rebels abducted more people. One abductee from Alok-KiWinyo recalls: When we reached Lajara, we found the village still bustling with activity. The rebels said that since the village was still busy and people were still moving about, they could not go into the village. They told us to be quiet and wait for the activity to subside. So we lay in the bush and waited. We could hear some drunken people in the village talking loudly. After about an hour they moved into the village and abducted people. I saw four men and one woman who had been abducted but since it was dark I could not see the others. We moved and went to Pajong.8 According to one respondent, "the abductees were being used to help the rebels to find the home which had been mentioned by Omara as their home."9 Between 11:00 pm - 12 am the rebels reached their destination in Pajong Parish, which had been mentioned by Omara as the location of his home. The people who had been abducted from Alok-Ki-Winyo and Lajara were all taken to the home of Okullu Emmanuel, which had been described by Omara as having a house roofed with iron. The rebels then split into groups and went about the village rounding up the residents of Pajong – whom they believed to be the clan mates of Omara - to take them to the home of Okullu Emmanuel. Many survivors recalled being awoken from their slumber by the sound of rebels pounding loudly on their doors and crashing into their homes. A survivor recounted the following story: village of Lajara lay along their path, and as they went through it, the rebels abducted more people.  A survivor recounted the following story: with the interrogation of Okullu and his family.

 

One survivor recalled the following episode: When they (rebels) got to Okullu Emmanuel's house, they found him sleeping inside with his wife and children. They brought him out of the house and asked him if he was Okullu Emmanuel. He said he was the one. They asked him if his wife was Acan Dora. He said she was the one. Then they told him that his son, Omara, had escaped with their gun. They asked him to produce it. Emmanuel replied that he was not the father of Omara, and even offered to take them to the home of Omara. They did not listen to him. All the abducted people were made to lie down on the Another witness recalls: We listened to the rebels as they interrogated Okullu Emmanuel and his family members. They asked Okullu Emmanuel's son if he was Omara's brother. He said he was not the one. They asked him if their house is roofed with iron sheets. He said it was. They asked Okullu Emmanuel if the place they were in was his home. He replied that it was. They asked him if he was Omara's father. He said he was not the one. Then they asked his wife if she was Acan Dora and whether she was Omara's mother. She agreed that she was Acan Dora but denied being the mother of Omara.13 The killings then started. The rebels randomly picked some of the people, separated them from the main group of captives and sent them in small groups of four to five people to different locations in neighbouring compounds where they met their deaths. Okullu's wife Dora Acan and his son Tony were among the first people brutally beaten to death using objects such as axes, hand hoes, machetes, and logs. One survivor, also a sister-in-law of Okullu Emmanuel, recalls: Five people were taken to my compound, out of which four were killed. My husband survived because he was not being closely guarded and he managed to run into the bush. However he had been beaten using the butt of a gun and as a result he has a physical disability up to this day. Among these five people who were killed in my compound were Okullu Emmanuel's wife and his son. Five people were taken to the compound of my neighbor and killed from there. None of them survived.

 

Then four people were killed in between by compound and that of my neighbor. Okullu died in his compound just a short distance away from the house.14 13 Interview with female survivor of the massacre, Pajong Parish, 7th July 2008 14 Interview with female survivor of the massacre, Pajong Parish, 7th July 2008 Okullu Emmanuel was said to have met his death in a brutal manner in front of the group that remained in his compound; They took Emmanuel to a granary. His head was chopped off with a panga (machete) while his son and wife were taken by another group to the compound of the brother of Emmanuel. As they were killing him Okullu said, "I am not the father of Omara!" But the LRA replied, "We were instructed by Omara that if we came to this iron roofed house we would find Emmanuel his father, Dora his mother, and Tony his brother".15 A two year old child of a woman called Esther started coughing incessantly. The coughing irritated the rebels to the point that one of them remarked, 'this child will make us to be caught.' Esther was ordered by the commander of the rebels to 'go and throw her child into the bush.' As she moved to obey the command, the rebel chief changed his mind and told her to place the child on the veranda of a hut next to which the captives had been gathered. Esther was told to rejoin the group of captives, and as she did so, the rebels flashed bright light into the eyes of the frightened child telling her, 'if you cry right now we are going to kill you.' The child continued crying and was immediately picked up by a rebel soldier and battered to death against the post of the hut. The above incident was later to turn into a painful slaughter of 6 other children at the hands of their own mothers. One mother recalled being forced to participate in the killing of her own child; He (the commander) told us that whoever was there with a child should un-strap them and start to smash them. Seven of us were ordered to smash the children on the veranda. I had a girl who was five years old. There were three women and myself who were ordered to kill ground.12 my daughter. The LRA surrounded us with pangas.16 If you were doing it slowly they would threaten to kill you.17 In total, about 21 people are said to have died in and around Okullu's compound.

 

A traumatised survivor recalled the scene after the killings had taken place, "I was too shocked to cry. I could not easily stand the sight of smashed brains mixed with blood. I felt dizzy and shivered all over."18 After the slaughter, the rebels ordered the survivors, now numbering about 35 in total, to begin walking eastward in the direction of another village called Akara. On the way, they lectured those who had survived and continued to threaten further violence. As one survivor recalled, "we were told that we would all be killed eventually. They told us that we had at least had the opportunity to watch our people die."19 Another female survivor speculated that they were forced to move to a new location, because the scene at Okullu's compound was so gruesome: "I think they also decided to go and kill more people from ahead because the site of bloody corpses of people who had been smashed to death was very ugly."20 More killings followed in the next village of Akara. We followed the road to Akara. When we reached it they started abducting people. They lined some of them on the road with their hands tied behind their backs. They started hacking them with hoes. When they were dead, the rebels told us to continue following them. We saw five people dead.21 The rebels and their captives then crossed a stream and came to a place called Kirombe at about 6:00 am, where the third group of people was massacred. At Kirombe some more men were killed. The rebels were targeting the men only at Kirombe. I do not know why. They told the women to speak out if there was a man seated next to them so that that man would be taken and killed.

 

We were all scared and we did not say anything. So the rebels moved by themselves among us in order to identify the men to be killed. Whenever they came across a man they would beat the woman seated next to that man while asking her why she had not spoken out. About ten men were taken and made to lie face downwards on the road, and then they were beaten to death. The rest of us were then told to move over the dead bodies and to proceed to a place called Agwoko.22 Along the way the rebels abducted an old man called Janao Owona and looted food from his compound. It was at Agwoko that the final round of killings occurred. A female survivor of this massacre recalled in an interview; When we reached Agwoko they abducted one new boy and killed him. The woman in front of me was selected and taken to be killed. Five women from the ones who survived in Okullu's compound were taken to a homestead and killed in a hut. The women were clubbed and hacked to death. Janao was also killed next to the women.23 From Agwoko, the rebels retraced their footsteps to Lajara village which they had passed earlier on their way to Pajong. At Lajara, the rebels addressed the prisoners, telling them they had carried out the massacre in retaliation of a man called Omara who had escaped with their gun. One survivor recalled the words of their killers. "If we have killed your brother, your sister, your uncle, or your mother, do not blame us. That is Omara's fault."24 The survivors were released to return home and in order to justify their actions, the rebels left behind a letter explaining their reason for carrying out the massacre. Written on a piece of paper plucked from a child`s school notebook the letter read: 25 We came because of our gun which Omara escaped with. As a sign that we were angered by the loss of our gun, we have carried out this massacre. Before this incident there was no grudge between us (LRA) and you (civilians) which shows that you are to blame and if our property (the gun) is not returned by Omara then you are in for more disaster. Signed: Commander Okot Wi Lit26, for our gun which we shall continue to struggle for.

 

COPING WITH THE AFTERMATH

The death toll was 56 men, women and children; killed in the most violent ways.27 As frightened survivors came out of their hiding places, they were greeted by chaos, shock, and trauma due to the gruesome scene which the LRA had left behind. It was about 7:00am when we discovered that many people had been killed. For instance in one compound over twenty people had been killed. They had mostly been clubbed on the head and others hit to death with hoes.28 Another said: I personally tried to save a woman I found still breathing but unfortunately she died shortly afterwards.29 Relatives of the dead rushed to spots where the killings had occurred, while the information about what had happened was relayed to Kitgum District leaders, who arrived shortly at the scene. Some of the leaders suggested that the dead be buried in a mass grave.30 This decision was rejected by most relatives of the deceased, as many considered the massacre as a failure on the part of the Government to protect the people of Pajong from the rebels. Many people were left dumbfounded and others wailed while at the same time blaming Omara as being responsible for the massacre that had happened.31 Days after the event, survivors of the massacre lived in fear of further retaliation. When unconfirmed rumors circulated that the LRA had originally set a target of 100 people to be killed as the penalty for the loss of their gun, people abandoned their villages and fled to the trading centre in fear that the LRA would return. Cultural leaders and relatives of the dead organized a cleansing ceremony in the areas where the killings had occurred.

 

The ceremony involved making a blood sacrifice of a sheep to appease the spirits of the dead and preparing a small feast which was shared by surviving relatives.32 At the request of victims, the first memorial prayer was organized with the help of Reverend Father Cena,33 a Parish priest at Kitgum Catholic Mission, who donated 100,000 shillings (approximately 59 USD) to facilitate the prayers. He also sponsored the construction of a memorial cross in Mucwini center. On this cross, there is an inscription which reads, "Pray for 56 people killed on 24/7/2002 Massacre at Pajong". This cross is the only acknowledgement of the massacre to date. Since its creation, a memorial prayer has been held annually to remember those who died. In the months and years which followed, victims who lost family members formed a self help support group which contributes towards the organization of the memorial prayers and other self help support activities such as micro finance and peer to peer counseling; We want this committee to help calm the grief of those who lost their loved ones. We try to counsel the victims so that they may not feel like revenging against the perpetrators. This group is called Pajong attack Memorial Group.34 While some survivors expressed satisfaction with these efforts, many felt that more should be done to help survivors of the massacre. Some felt that a better monument should be built to replace the cross constructed by Reverend Father Cena, while others thought that more tangible forms of acknowledgement and reparations such as a school or a hospital should be constructed and support given to families of the victims. In the long run however, the Mucwini massacre like many other massacres in the history of the conflict remains officially unacknowledged, and the surviving relatives of those who perished struggle on with the memories they have been left with. As one survivor painfully puts it, "I am gradually trying to forget about what happened but it is still difficult because at times the memory comes back so strongly that I visualize my two brothers and clan mates lying in a pool of blood."35 In addition, they are faced with the dilemmas of post conflict reconciliation which will be examined in the next section.

 

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