UGANDA 22/5/2004 8:58 GULU: NEW ATTACKS, REBELS PROMISE FURTHER VIOLENCE General, Urgent The rebels of the self-proclaimed LRA (Lordâs Resistance Army) have attacked the refugee camp of Lokome, 11 kilometres from Gulu, the main city in northern Uganda, MISNA sources have said. On Thursday evening the âOlumâ (as the LRA rebels are called in the Acholi language) reportedly assaulted the collection of huts, firing guns and attacking the inhabitants with machetes: 38 people died in the attack, according to a provisional toll, while around ten survivors were taken to the government hospital for treatment. The rebels also torched around 100 huts; civil society operators who later travelled to the scene of the massacre reported that the campâs inhabitants had all taken flight, seeking refuge in Gulu. Yesterday, the news circulated of an attack on a presumed âLokodi villageâ, in which 25 people, including eight children, had allegedly been killed; however, MISNA sources have not been able to confirm the reports, which came from the army, as the locality in question is unknown. It could be that âLokodi villageâ was in fact âLokome campâ. Last Sunday, the rebels attacked the camp of Pagak, also in the Gulu district, clubbing to death 23 women and young children and 14 men; yesterday MISNA sources said that on the same day the rebels also attacked the camp of Amuro, 20 kilometres from Pagak, and abducted eight people, before clubbing them to death with hoes. Messages from the rebels threatening to attack the nearby camps of Aslero and Anaka, and to continue until they had killed at least 100 people, were allegedly found on the bodies of the dead. The rebels of LRA have tormented the civilian population in the northern districts of Uganda since 1986; in 18 years of conflict, at least 100,000 people have died, while a further 25,000 â predominantly children â have been abducted and over one million people (1.5 million according to some sources) have been displaced from their homes.[LC] N¬±êï‰Ç²,µçhžØ^"wèr‰§zÜ(®Hm¶Ÿÿà "ú ¢g(º
