Rebel Attack Kills 54 in Uganda
By HENRY WASSWA
.c The Associated Press
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Ugandan rebels attacked a refugee camp in northern Uganda early Thursday, killing 54 civilians and two soldiers, a missionary said.
An army spokesman confirmed that the Lord's Resistance Army attacked the Abia camp, 185 miles north of Kampala, before dawn. Lt. Chris Magezi said the rebels killed at least 20 people and critically injured ``scores of others.''
The shadowy rebel group, which has little contact with the outside world, could not be reached for comment. The rebels have fought for 17 years to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni, but mostly attack civilians to steal food and abduct children for use as fighters or concubines.
The Rev. Sebath Ayele, a missionary with the Comboni Fathers Mission, told The Associated Press by telephone that he visited Abia camp, where 10,000 civilians live because of the war in northern Uganda, and said 46 people died at the scene, eight died in a nearby hospital and more than 70 others were wounded.
``I have just seen the camp now and some huts are still burning,'' Ayele said. ``The rebels came in huge numbers, fought with the soldiers and overpowered them, killing two soldiers.''
The Ugandan army has stepped up an offensive against the rebels, recently announcing that they would send troops into southern Sudan to attack rebel bases. But despite repeated claims of victory, the rebel attacks continue.
02/05/04 22:55 EST
"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
