{UAH} For Museveni to answer: BUCORO revisited

Bucoro revisited.....

 

It was at Bucoro that the people of Acholi saw the very worst of NRA/UPDF atrocity. In the first incident a dozen or so young men, who were not rebels but were merely found in an "operation" area were ordered by the NRA/UPDF to dig a grave. When they had finished digging the grave, they were ordered by the UPDF to jump into the grave they'd dug and they were all buried alive by the NRA/UPDF. In the second incident, the hole in the ground had been dug up for them by the NRA/UPDF. The army then ordered up to 20 young men into the hole and there they were smoked to death. For the record, Bucoro featured in an Amnesty International report.

 

On 16 October 2003 the UPDF arrested 3 people on the suspicion that they were LRA collaborators. They were named as Aboda, Oryema and Otim - all of Lamola parish, Omida sub county in Kitgum district. The crime these three men had committed was to be found outside of the concentration camps (a.k.a. displaced people's camp). Hunger had driven them out of the camps and they were scavenging for food in their old homes. Upon arrest, they were taken to the notorious "Gang Dyang" barracks. Sources reveal they were severely tortured and thrown into a "hole", specially dug up and a place designated for those the UPDF intends to kill. To this day nothing has been heard of the 3 who are presumed dead.

 

The UPDF also arrested Mr. Okwera of Pajimo in Akwang sub county, Kitgum district on 18th October 2003. Mr Okwera was in possession of two new pairs of gum-boots (rubber boots), which he used for tilling the land. This, the UPDF believed is proof enough that Mr Okwera is a rebel collaborator and that his gum-boots were meant for delivery to the LRA. Mr Okwera too we have learnt has been taken to Gang Dyang and detained in that same hole in the ground. Nothing has been heard of him since.

 

Whilst the above treatment is bad enough, we have learnt that in most instances, the UPDF do not bother going through the motion of detention, with those it doesn't like. This is normally the case with civilians found in places far from town e.g. Palabek. It was in Palabek that on 6th July 2003 the UPDF came across 4 men, 2  women and a child. The civilians where digging (tilling the land) outside of the concentration camps. The party of 7 were all murdered by the UPDF with no further questions asked.  

THE ECHO: NORTHERN NEWS EXTRA, For un-censored news from Northern Uganda.  ISSUE No. 3, 30th November 2003.

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