why would the regime in Kampala deploy only 40 troops to I hear defend the camp, if not to make it easy for other UPDF soldiers ( possing as Rebels) to attack and kill fellow citizens in the camp with absolute impunity.
MK
Memories of Massacre
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The East African (Nairobi)
March 14, 2005
Posted to the web March 15, 2005
Nairobi
David Kaiza travelled to Lira for the first anniversary of the Lira massacre to get first-hand accounts of the survivors
ON FEBRUARY 21 LAST, YEAR rebels descended on Barlonyo displaced people's camp in northern Uganda's Lira district, burning all the huts and killing over 300 villagers in the internally displaced people's camp. A year later, as they marked the first anniversary of the massacre, villagers give their personal accounts of that bloody evening.
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John Okello, 28, said: "They came at about 5 o'clock in the evening from the east of the camp. When they fired at the barracks, the soldiers ordered us to go indoors. There were only 40 soldiers in the barracks and they could not repulse the rebels, who were all over the camp.
"They burnt all the huts, including mine, which was at the centre of the camp. When the firing started, we tried to run, but we were already surrounded. The rebels were killing everyone in sight, using guns and machetes. I ran away with my wife. But my mother, Rosalinda Angom, my brothers Abel Okello Ayo, Paul Okwir and their wives Jennifer Acen and Rose were not so lucky. They were all shot dead.
"After escaping from Barlonyo, we ran to Ogur camp. The people in Ogur were frightened when they saw us, but they quickly contacted the army who mobilised a mamba (armoured assault vehicle). That night, we slept in Ogur camp, where the Red Cross brought us food. In the morning of Sunday, February 22, we left Ogur at 7 o'clock for Barlonyo to bury those who had been killed.
"We were speechless when we saw the bodies. Some had cuts all over them, most were burnt to charcoal. All we could do was to start the burial ceremony. We started at about 8 O'clock and worked until noon, burying them in a mass grave."
NEXT WAS GEOFFREY Kot's account. "I was shot in the leg after the soldiers were defeated by the rebels. I lost three of my five children. I was shot as I tried to run away. I fell to the ground and crawled to hide in a hut. But I had to crawl out again because the rebels set the hut on fire.
I climbed over the wall and went into another hut, which they also burnt down. I had lost so much blood that I could not move any more. I survived because there was a blanket in the hut under which I hid. I pulled the blanket over my head and kept pouring water on it to keep out the flames.
My head was covered, but part of my back and legs were exposed. I was burnt badly. And because I had to put my hand out to get water, it was also burnt.
The attack started at 5:30 pm; by the time the soldiers came, it was already dark. I was pulled out and loaded onto a lorry and taken to Lira hospital and immediately put on blood transfusion.
"When I left Lira Hospital in July, I went to live in Ogur camp. It is a hardship place. We receive food once in three months. We have to work hard for little money. Those who are strong can dig, but in my condition, I limit myself to easy tasks like thatching roofs."
Dorcus Abeja, 21, said, "We were cooking that evening in the camp. There was a group of people who had gone out to harvest honey from the beehives, but they came back without honey and said they had seen strange soldiers hiding in a sunflower field. They wanted to go closer to see who they were, but they were scared. We thought they were Karimojong cattle raiders but we did not give it much thought. However, when soldiers from the barracks went to find out who the strangers were, fighting immediately broke out.
The first person they killed that day was Pastor Neri Odongo. He had gone to check his on charcoal when he was caught in the crossfire. But we still thought it was the Karimojong. As we headed for the huts the barracks and the camp were bombed. We fled as every hut was on fire
"We ran up to Ogur and reported that that the camp had been attacked and that everyone had been killed. My husband, Tom Omara, had been shot in the foot. We came back to Barlonyo in the morning and found that my mother, Kerubina Alum and grandmother, Sylvia Akullu, had been killed. My grandmother was shot while my mother's head was cut off.
This was Sunday morning. We started burying everyone after which I went to Lira hospital to look after my husband. He had to stay in hospital for two months.
"I have four children with whom I escaped that night of terror but I cannot afford to feed them now. We want to go back home because life in the camps is unbearable." The story of 19-year old Bonny Odyeny was no different.
"I was a student. I had been in school for only three days when I heard that the rebels had killed people in Barlonyo and immediately left for home.
"When I reached Barlonyo, there was mayhem. Some people had been shot, some people's heads had been crushed while others had been burnt beyond recognition. Of all the houses there had been in Barlonyo, only one, an iron-roofed one, was left standing.
My brother told me that our father Cypriano Odyeny, had died in the attack. He had been stabbed in the neck and burnt. My mother, Gertrude Apet, was stabbed twice but survived.
"She was hospitalised in Lira Hospital for five months and till today she complains of chest pains.
"Education has become difficult. When I had gone to school on February 18, I had gone without school fees. Now it became impossible to pay. I told the headmaster that my father was dead and that I could not continue with my studies and he paid my fees. I passed the Uganda Certificate of Education in first grade but I have no means of furthering my education. We are three children in the family.
"Life in the camps is characterised by hunger and disease. We receive two jugs of beans in two months. Second, when people live together in this condition, morals break. Because of congestion, fires easily break out. Dysentery and malaria are also common."
MARY AYO SAID: "THE rebels attacked at 5 o'clock in the evening. My daughter-in-law and her family lived at the edge of the camp, near where the attack started. Their house was one of the first to be burnt down. Everyone had been told to go indoors when the firing started, and my daughter-in-law and her child obeyed. When the fire broke out, they came out to flee, only to run into the hands of the rebels. They were hacked to death.
"I was in the house with two children when our hut started burning. We ran towards the Abwor river and found a log at a crossing under which we hid till morning when returned to the camp. It was God who saved us."
Samuel AcilI, 28, survived the attack together with his family. However, his wife was later to kill all three of their children out of frustration.
Soldiers in the barracks had left for Agweng when the rebels came.
"After the attack, the wounded were taken away in the night. I was one of those who were shot in Barlonyo. They broke into my house where I was hiding and when I tried to run away they shot me in the knee. I was rescued and taken to hospital, where I was to remain for five months.
AFTER I WAS DISCHARGED I went to live in Orit camp. That was where my wife, Grace, had gone. One day, she went away with our children.
"I did not hear about her for some time. Then one day, someone went to the village and found all our children dead. Later, my wife said she was the one who killed them. She is now in police custody.
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"You see, I was disabled and had no way of feeding my children. Grace was unhappy with me. Before she killed the children, she told me that her father would pay for the deaths of the children. I did not understand this. We had been receiving food from the World Food Programme but it was not enough.
Grace could not bear it any longer. She was tired of the children crying for food all the time. She killed them because we could not feed them."
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