Museveni recalls Lira commander By Frank Nyakairu Feb 24, 2004
Death toll up to 204
KAMPALA � Gen. Museveni has recalled the commander of the army�s 403 Brigade following the Saturday massacre in Lira of scores of civilians.
�I have transferred the commander of the 403 Brigade, Lt. Col. Mulindwa who was responsible for the area to headquarters for further training,� Museveni said in a statement issued last evening.
WASTELAND! A soldier patrols the smoking ruins of Barlonyo camp yesterday (AFP photo).
�I have not been harsher with him because he has been a good fighter especially while a battalion commander. Brigade command involves a lot of management and he may have been overwhelmed,� said the commander-in-chief�s statement.
The attack took place on Saturday evening at Barlonyo camp in Cuka Dek Orit parish in Ogur sub-county in Erute county, Lira district.
Museveni said that the media had reported varying figures of the dead but he put the death toll at 80 civilians and four Amuka militia fighters.
Amuka is a local militia trained to fight alongside the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces in their campaign against the Lord�s Resistance Army rebels in Lira district.
Media reports yesterday put the number of the dead at about 190.
By yesterday evening, Lira hospital Superintendent Acheng Ochero said, eight more victims of the raid had died at the hospital.
Local sources said that six other people in Barlonyo had been killed by a landmine believed to have been planted by the fleeing rebels.
�Mistake number one was to allow ungazetted Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPCs) to develop around a small detach of Amuka [militia] which have been set up to monitor the movement of the terrorists in the area,� Museveni noted.
He also blamed the army detach at Barlonyo for not communicating to other UPDF units.
He said that if the other army units had known of the attack, they would have reinforced the detach in time.
Rebels deny it all
Meanwhile, the LRA rebels yesterday denied responsibility for the massacre.
Speaking on BBC�s Focus on Africa programme last evening, a man calling himself �Brig.� Sam Kolo of the LRA said they did not attack the camp.
�I would like to make this information known to all Ugandans that the LRA did not massacre anybody in Barlonyo camp in Lira,� Kolo said.
He claimed to be speaking from a location in Kitgum district.
�The civilians who died, got killed during the crossfire between the UPDF, the rhino [Amuka militia] and the LRA,� Kolo said.
�The truth is that a combined force of UPDF and the rhino forces came at around 5 p.m. and attacked our position in Ogur sub-county. We repulsed them and chased them up to the barracks at Barlonyo where we destroyed the barracks, killed several of them and captured many military hardware,� he claimed.
The massacre has since attracted local and international condemnation.
The United Nations last evening issued a statement condemning the grisly attack on innocent civilians.
�It is with profound sadness that the United Nations system learnt of the tragedy in Lira,� read a statement by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator, Mr Daouda Toure.
�The main victims of this ruthless attacks are defenceless civilians, women and children. The UN is on standby to bring assistance to the survivors as soon as safe passage to the area is guaranteed.�
The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative also condemned the attack last evening.
�We, the religious leaders of Acholi, wish to express our strongest condemnation of the recent massacre of more than 190 innocent people in the Barlonyo displaced camp of Lira district by LRA rebels,� they said in a statement.
Rebel leader Joseph Kony, now facing investigation and possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court, has been fighting President Museveni�s government since 1988.
The rebellion has ravaged the northern and northeastern regions where thousands of people have died and others displaced from their homes into camps.
About 10,000 children have been abducted into rebel ranks or been married off to rebel commanders.
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