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WHAT FUTURE? Acholi women and children take refuge at Lira police station |
By Milton Olupot and Ali Mao
Rioters arrested
ACHOLI MPs yesterday blamed the chaos in which five people died in Lira on Wednesday, on Lango politicians.
They called for the immediate arrest of MPs Omara Atubo (Otuke), Dr. Alex Okot (Moroto) and Charles Angiro (Erute North). The Acholi parliamentary group (APG) said at a press conference in Parliament that the politicians should be arrested for inciting the Langi against the Acholi.
They said the hatred had been brewing over time and would explode if the Government did not take steps to check it.
Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in Lira town for trying to lynch an Acholi woman yesterday, the district Police chief, Godfrey Aropet, said. He said investigations into the Wednesday demonstration were going on and those found guilty would be prosecuted. He said the Police had taken measures to protect the Acholi in Lira town.
However, some Langi wh
o described the incident as �unexpected� yesterday, apologised to the Acholi for what happened, saying some of the victims were Langi. In a statement read by secretary general Odonga Otto (Aruu), Lango leaders condemned the brutal LRA rebel campaign against the Acholi, Langi and Iteso, particularly the Saturday incident in which about 200 were killed by the rebels.
Prof. Latigo Ogenga, Santa Okot, Reagan Okumu and Michael Ochula called on the Government to intervene immediately, warning that the Acholi would be compelled to retaliate if the killings continued.
Okumu said Acholi students in Lango were fleeing the area and that students at the Lira Nursing School were not eating for fear of poisoning.
The leaders said, �We condemn those senseless leaders of the Lango community who have taken it upon themselves to incite tribal sentiments against the Acholi on account of the LRA atrocities. Kony is an Acholi but Acholi are not Kony.�
The politici
ans, reportedly expressed tribal sentiments over radios, Radio France International, the Monitor FM and Radio Omega in Gulu, saying the Acholi overthrew their government in 1985, sent Lakwena to kill them and eventually, Kony.
Omara Atubo, however, denied the allegations, calling them diversionary.
�I was only analysing the events that have led to the suffering of our people. It is not true that the whole of Lango is fighting the whole of Acholi.
�My brothers and sisters should go back and speak to their people. They should not bury their heads under the sand, they know what is happening,� he added.
The APG statement yesterday thanked the Police and the army for their quick intervention and called upon the Lango leaders to quickly bring the situation to normal.
They called on the Acholi to remain calm and to desist from inciting negative passions against the Langi living in Acholi.
They said the Lango leaders had been instigati
ng hatred against the Acholi since 2003 when the LRA entered Lango.
They said they were shocked by statements attributed to President Yoweri Museveni on a BBC interview, where he reportedly referred to LRA as �those who were killing in Nile mansions�.
�We view this statement as very unfortunate, what do Ugandans make out of it, especially the people of Lango and Acholi who remember with great pain how hatred was directed against them, when the NRA took over power in 1986.
Published on: Friday, 27th February, 2004 |
