LRA on food grabbing spree
By John Muto Ono p’Lajur They are desperate, says Bantariza
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels on Thursday raided a Kitgum town suburb, two days after they had sowed mayhem in another part of the district.
The rebels hit a shop at Lulojo, just half a kilometre outside Kitgum town, in a fashion similar to what they did Jan. 28 in Ayul, West Ward -- breaking-in and grabbing whatever they could lay their hands on.
The same day another group was reported to have operated in Kalibong, Pugwo and Pukoda parishes in Nam Okora sub-county, Chua county.
In the past few weeks, the LRA have busied themselves raiding shops and any place they can grab foodstuffs and clothes in what seems to be a deliberate stocking-up exercise.
This kind of activity has been reported in various parts of Gulu and Pader districts. It’s harvest season now in Acholi sub-region.
Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza yesterday said “there is no doubt about that” when Sunday Monitor asked him if the rebels are re-stocking.
“They (the rebels) are desperate. At the base we attacked in south Sudan we only found one jerrycan of pigeon peas and one a half bags of sorghum,” he said.
Bantariza also said statistics now show that the army is recovering more empty magazines of bullets than full ones “ How can a man with an rifle fight with an empty magazine? He asked.
Gulu RDC Max Omeda told Sunday Monitor “the UPDF should be very vigilant now because the rebels are not only looking for food but also want to attack isolated army units”.
The army has not been sitting by, except in one incident in Pajule where the rebels spent an entire night in the area before a UPDF unit forced them out. Government forces on Thursday surprised the rebels at Pukoda and rescued 24 abductees whom the rebels had locked in a hut while they cooked their food.
“These are their tactics. They lock up abductees as they cook. In this particular case, the UPDF attacked them, forcing them to abandon those they had abducted,” Kitgum RDC Lt. Santos Okot Lapolo told Sunday Monitor, Saturday over phone.
He praised the army for promptly responding to this latest rebel infiltration..
Lapolo said the rest of Kitgum is peaceful but warned that a food crisis is looming.
Travelling by road between Kitgum and Gulu is still risky with many people preferring to fly by Eagle Air, which is charging $100 for a return ticket.
February 01, 2003 11:50:19
