LIRA DISTRICT: REVISED DEATH TOLL, 18 VICTIMS
The number of dead in the latest LRA (Lordâs Resistance Army) attack in north Uganda has been revised upwards to 18. Initially, it was thought that the rebels had killed 14 women in the village of Teobwolo near Orum, roughly 60 kilometres from Lira, between 13 and 14 January.
Today, MISNA sources reported that a parliamentarian, Daniel Omara Atubo, has published the names of 18 civilians (17 women and a man) massacred by the rebels outside one of the âprotected campsâ for internally displaced people, which the Ugandan army is supposed to protect. âThe military commanders should protect these peopleâs lives,â said Atubo.
The politician called upon the government of President Yoweri Museveni to provide the humanitarian aid needed to relieve the suffering of the displaced and to guarantee protection to civilians who leave the camps temporarily. On numerous occasions, the army soldiers on duty at these camps have been unable to prevent LRA attacks.
Local sources claim that over the last 17 years at least 100,000 people have died in rebel attacks, while roughly one million people have been displaced. Moreover, thousands of children (25,000 according to recent estimates) have been abducted. [LC]
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
