On 20 March 2005, a UPDF officer called Agaba who was a reknowned drunkard died as a result of excessive drinking (he had drunk a local brew called "Dete"). In the camps, this alcohol is only sold by wives of UPDF soldiers and in most cases such a business is carried out by the wife of the UPDF commander nearest to the camp. Clear as the casue of death was, the UPDF blamed the people of Omiya-Anyima for having poisoned the UPDF officer.
As a response, the UPDF commander of the camp, ordered his soldiers to go and arrest all women who sell a slightly nutritious brew known as "kwete" and bring them to the barracks. This arrest was carried out on 21 March 2005 in the morning hours. Women and young girls were taken to the barracks forcibly, all of them were accussed of poisoning Agaba. In all, a total of 43 wom en were taken to the UPDF barracks, some of the women were breast feeding mothers.
On reaching the barracks, these women were made to sit in the open sunshine (together with their babies) from morning until 4pm in the evening. At 4pm, the UPDF released the 6 breastfeeding mothers. The rest remained with the UPDF. The UPDF's next move was to "find out who killed Agaba" and its simplest way to do this was to subject these women to vicious beatings. Many of the women were left in a critical condition by the time the UPDF had finished with them. For example - Marcelina Akun, had both her arms fractured, Ejeriana Lakwach had several broken rib bones, Ajulina Lamon had her hib bone dislocated and many other cases of very serious injuries inflicted by the UPDF.
At sunset, with their multiple injuries the UPDF decided to let the women go - even without finding out "who killed Agaba". The truth of the matter is, the UPDF knew Agaba died o f excessive drinking but they saw this as an opportunity to teach the people of Omiya-Anyima a lesson. And this is characteristic of life in the camps, the same camps which the UPDF have forced the people of Northern Uganda into.
UN raps UPDF on torture....
In March 2005, the influential British daily, the Daily Telegraph detailed the horror of life for Ugandans under the UPDF. The paper wrote;
"Suspected dissidents disappear after midnight visits to their homes; chilling screams can again be heard
from Idi Amin's infamous torture chambers, reopened after a quarter of a century of disuse. From the few
that escape come tales of punishment beatings and even mass executions. Welcome to President Yoweri Museveni's Uganda".
The paper gave one example;
"Last year, Yasin, a taxi driver who occasionally chauffeured a senior opposition official around the countryside, was woken by a loud rapp
ing at
his door a few hours before dawn. The men who had come to arrest him were not policemen, but members of the widely feared Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
Yasin knew that the CMI, a shadowy spy agency directly answerable to the president, had no powers to arrest
anybody. But he also knew better than to question his captors. He was taken to Makindye barracks, where some of the
worst atrocities of Amin's infamous State Research Bureau, which used to force inmates to beat each other
to death with sledgehammers, took place in the 1970s.
"Every day for a week, they would hang me upside down and beat me with clubs," Yasin said. "They wanted to
know names of people working for the opposit
ion. I
kept saying I didn't know any, but they wouldn't believe me." On his third day, Yasin watched as a fellow inmate, an elderly man accused of recruiting for the main opposition alliance, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was killed using a method known as "Liverpool". The victim's head was placed in a bag that was repeatedly filled with water. To breathe, he had to drink it all, but the more he drank, the more bloated his belly became until his innards ruptured and he died in a pool of his own urine".
In May 2005, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) accussed Uganda of using torture especially operating torture chambers commonly known as safe houses. The committe noted that in only 10 months in 2004, hundreds of Ugandans died whilst in detention including many whilst being held within UPDF military establis
hments
(barracks). The UN body observed that the high number of civilian deaths pointed to an unnatural causes of death e.g. death through torture - a practise which the committee noted was widespread including at the hands of the UPDF. As we at the Echo have regurlarly reported, in the UPDF' Uganda, civilian life is cheap and in Northern Uganda where the friends of the UPDF have continued to maintain a conspiracy of silence, civilian deaths at the hands of the UPDF (through torture/killings/executions) have become an accepted way of life.
UPDF assasinates local official....
On 12 April 2004 UPDF soldiers from the notorious Gang-Dyang barracks seriously beat up an elderly woman whilst robbing her of UGS15,000. The incident took place at Auch village in Kitgum municipality at around 7pm. The cry of pain from the elderly woman attracted many people at which point the UPDF left the scene by freely and in full view of everyone walking back to Gang Dyang barracks.
Amongst the people who responded to the old woman's cry for help was the LC1 secretary for security and defence (local government official) Mr. Hannington Olebe. The next morning, Mr. Olebe went to report the UPDF attack to the RDC's office in Kitgum so that steps may be taken to halt further attacks on the civilian population. As everyone knows in Nort
hern
Uganda, one only comes forward to complain about UPDF atrocities if one does not value ones life. On 14 April 2005, UPDF soldiers from Gang Dyang barracks came and assasinated Mr. Olebe during the night.
According to members of Mr. Olebe's family, on 14 April 2004 at about 8pm 3 UPDF soldiers came to their home and requested that they be given water to drink. The water was offered to them. These 3 UPDF soldiers had infact come to the Olebe homestead to confirm that he was at home so that they could come back later and kill him. At around midnight, the UPDF did return. The family say there were knocks on their door with a request for Mr Olebe to come out. As soon as their father opened the door, the UPDF rained gunfire on him - killing him instantly with Mr Olebe falling back dead inside the house.
Observ
ers note
that, not even Legislators are spared from the UPDF backlash (see out 14 issue whereby the UPDF tried to kill MP Charles Angiru or in this issue whereby MPs Okumu and Ocula have been thrown in jail). Others note that the much touted UN human rights office in Northern Uganda will be all but a cruel joke unless credible measure are taken to guarantee complainants security (which with the UPDF in power, is impossible).
And Finally...
In the 14th issue, we reported on how some local leaders (legislators) spoke out against the atrocities being committed by the UPDF in their
constituencies. Two of those legislators were Reagan Okumu and Nyeko Ocula. As we have often reported, in Northern Uganda one only speaks out at grave risk to one's life (the UPDF eliminates/kills those who speak out against its activities). In April 2005, both legislators were arrested and locked up on false charges that they had some involvement in a murder case going back 4 years.
Observers contend that the UPDF strategy in this instance (as in the past), is multi-faceted. Ever since failing to lure the LRA out of bush, the UPDF has embarked upon setting one group of Northern Uganda people against each other and within each community setting groups of individuals against the rest. At the forefront of this strategy is using LRA prisoners of war to accuse those oppossed to the UPDF violence in Northern Uganda of complicity in the rebellion. The UPDF aim is simple, to d
issuade
the local people from backing peaceful means to solving the conflict and leaving the door open for the UPDF's preffered twin approaches of militarism and the ICC in the Hague. Observers conclude that in the coming months, the people of Northern Uganda can only but expect more arrests and killings as the UPDF tries to get its won way.
Until next time, Jok Joka malo.
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