The Ombaci Massacre
The year was 1981, Idi Amin had been overthrown and his remnant soldiers had
regrouped and gone to the “bush” as guerrillas to begin fighting the ruling
government from the West Nile region. Since the guerrillas did not have enough
weaponry, except for a few guns, bows, arrows and spears, they were
overpowered by the Government soldiers who met them at Bondo (about 30km from
Arua Town) and were driven northwards through Arua Town. Tensions were very
high and the whole town smelt of war as many people escaped to the neighbouring
Congo and Sudan.
Arua Town had become a war zone. Hundreds of civilians from surrounding
villages as well as the town took refuge at Ombaci Catholic Mission about four
kilometres from Arua Town in the belief that it would be a safe haven. Then the
Government soldiers arrived! The day was Wednesday, June, the 24th, 1981, the
time was 10:00 am. I had also taken refuge at the Mission with my sister Ezuru
Anna for two days. It was quite a calm day compared to the previous ones, but
something in me sensed trouble. So my sister and I decided to leave the mission
to pick a few things from home which was two kilometres from the Mission and
cross over to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). As we reached home,
the Government soldiers had taken firm control of the town and were shooting
towards our village so we chose not to cross over into to Congo and ran back to
the Mission instead.
I took cover in one of the dormitories of Ombaci College within the Mission,
but when I realised it was not safe, I entered the Italian quarters believing
that the soldiers would have respect for the white missionary fathers and not
venture into their living space. How wrong I was. I proceeded to join about 30
people who had also taken refuge in a garage in the Italian quarters.
Soon the soldiers were all over the Mission armed with guns, long knives, logs
and small hoes as the violence intensified. They began shooting, stabbing,
cutting and clobbering people left right and center. They would enter every
room and clear (kill) every living person be it a child or an adult and only
the lucky ones survived. “Sasa fungua RPG, fungua machine gun!” (loosely
translated to mean “Now open RPG, open machine gun!”) they would shout and then
they would fire endlessly on people.“Leta pesa!” (“Give us your money!”) they
would order people, but as the people rose up to hand over their money, they
were shot instantly. They were shooting as if they were spraying nursery beds
with water.
At this time, I was still in the garage peeping through the vent and my whole
body shook violently as I waited for death because I knew the soldiers were
coming for us. I sat next to a man who held his grandson tightly and when I saw
a soldier striding towards us I then knew my end had surely come. Aiming his
gun at us he shot at the man twice and he fell on me. One of the bullets hit me
on my right cheek and I blacked out.
I was later rescued by Red Cross workers when I screamed out of pain as bodies
were being loaded on a truck (about 2000 people had been killed). I came to my
senses in Angal Hospital which was when I realised I had been shot thrice: on
my right cheek, the back of my head and my left thigh. I spent nine months at
the Hospital where I was operated on my cheek and my left thigh to remove the
bullets. 31 years down the road I still have some fragments from those bullets
in my body.
The scars
Although I survived death that time, the effects have lived with me until now
and I still suffer the aftermath of that incident. I cannot walk for over half
a kilometre. I cannot engage in hard work and because of the injury to my head
I cannot carry luggage. I also have to hire labour which is quite expensive.
When I hear the sound of loud bangs, I usually faint and I get sudden fits
which I attribute to that single day’s experience.
The frustration
When I saw that the Government, through the Amnesty Commission, was supporting
and aiding ex-combatants in West Nile in a bid to cause them to put down their
arms I was greatly angered. These are the very people who perpetrated the
violence directly or indirectly. I wondered how the killer could be supported
at the expense of the survivors or the killed.
…
Such is the frustration of victims of massacres like Ombaci, as far as
reparation is concerned. To them, the various schemes of Government’s support
to ex-combatants or rebels amount to impunity, since the real persons who
suffered innocently have remained largely unacknowledged.
Considering the views of many of the victims we have encountered, the Gender
Justice Team at JRP makes the following recommendations:
* Government’s focus should now be directed to establishing projects for the
sole benefit of survivors of armed conflicts.
* Survivors of the various armed conflicts should be readily identified and
their suffering/losses documented to facilitate their reparation.
* The Government should have a dialogue with the survivors to ascertain their
specific reparation needs.
* The survivors of armed conflicts should be remembered and acknowledged.
* The establishment of victim or survivor groups should be encouraged.
* Memorial prayers should be held at massacre sites to preserve such memories
for the younger generations.
* The Government should have a dialogue with the survivors to ascertain their
specific reparation needs.
* The survivors of armed conflicts should be remembered and acknowledged.
* The establishment of victim or survivor groups should be encouraged.
* Memorial prayers should be held at massacre sites to preserve such memories
for the younger generations.▪
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika
machafuko"
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