Brutal rebel attack in Uganda

[DannyBoyUK]

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed 42 civilians in an attack in northern Uganda, says the Ugandan army.
It says the rebels attacked a village near the northern town of Kitgum on Wednesday and used machetes and clubs to cut and beat their victims to death.

BBC's Will Ross in Kampala says religious leaders in northern Uganda confirmed the attack, saying many people had fled from outlying villages to Kitgum.

The LRA rebels, who took up arms 15 years ago to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni, have intensified their raids since late May, following an operation by Ugandan troops to flush them out of neighbouring Sudan.

LRA policy

The attack came two days after the LRA rebels released more than 30 women and children who had been in captivity for several with the rebels.

They included the brother of former head of state, General Tito Okello.

Erisanweri Opira, in his 70s, was abducted on Tuesday and released unharmed on Wednesday evening, said an army spokesman.

Our correspondent say the latest LRA policy has been to capture civilians, explain their policies and then release the hostages to promote their cause.

But the Wednesday attack seem to send out a very different message, he said. <

Hostages

Earlier, the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative said 18 women and 13 children were handed over by the LRA near Pajule, Pader District about 300 km north of the capital, Kampala.

The religious group said the women and children - some of whom had fought with the rebels - were in a state of exhaustion.

"They are not in a very good condition," Lam Cosmas, the group's spokesman, said.

"They are really destitute. After having walked all this distance from Sudan up here and having been always on the move they are really worn out."

The rebels may have handed over the hostages because they were hindering their progress through the region, he said

However, one of the bishops who was recently given the go-ahead by President Museveni to enter a dialogue with the LRA has described the release as a goodwill gesture.

"It is a good sign ...what I know is that the rebels are sending these women and children to see what happens to them, whether they are mistreated or not," Roman Catholic Bishop John Baptiste Odama told the Associated Press news agency.

"This is sort of a testing ground, but it is a good sign."

 

[grrrly]

what else is new

 

[Frimost]

I'll tell you what's new, someone else besides me is taking an interest in the internal affairs of wars and insurgencies in the third world, that's what...

But as for the massacre itself, same old shit, different day. If you are surprised by it then it must be because you have just started reading the World News on the net (which report about such things, which the mainstream media avoids like the plague) and not the mass killing itself. Because that happens every other day somewhere in Africa on any given week.

 

[p_p_man]

Christ you can't think that...

Africans believe that massacreing their fellow Man is wrong do you?

They don't even believe that AIDS will do it for them...

They're an ignorant bunch, led by ignorant men, who get too much attention from the rest of us...

ppman

 

[grrrly]

and they get too much of our money, we need more healthcare and pensions, we need to take care of our own first

 

[Lost Cause]

Sudan National Islamic Front.......

Well see? Africa has lived this way since before the European colonization. Being PC, what right do we have about their traditional native political campaigns?

*Actually the Sudan funds these UN welfare receipients, go after them.

(A lot of info below

the Lord's Resistance Army -- receives support from Sudan -- harass government forces and murder and kidnap civilians in the north and west. They do not, however, threaten the stability of the government. The LRA seeks to overthrow the Uganda Government and has inflicted brutal violence on the population in northern Uganda, including rape, kidnapping, torture, and murder. LRA forces also target local government officials and employees. The LRA also targets international humanitarian convoys and local nongovernmental organization workers. Due to Sudanese support of various guerrilla movements, Uganda severed diplomatic relations with Sudan on April 22, 1995, and contacts between the Government of Uganda and the National Islamic Front-dominated Government of Sudan remain limited.
The LRA has abducted large numbers of civilians for training as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.

In particular, the LRA abducted numerous children and, at clandestine bases, terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998, although many of those abducted later escaped or were released. Most human rights NGOs place the number of abducted children still held captive by the LRA at around 3,000, although estimates vary substantially.


Civil strife in the north has led to the violation of the rights of many members of the Acholi tribe, which is largely resident in the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum. Both government forces and the LRA rebels--who themselves largely are Acholi--committed violations. LRA fighters in particular were implicated in the killing, maiming, and kidnaping of Alcholi tribe members.

www.fas.org

 

[metal_minx]

and they get too much of our money, we need more healthcare and pensions, we need to take care of our own first

i don't think they're getting too much money i think we're giving it too the wrong people...we give money, indirectly through banks and loans, to 'families', which means we give it too the men...who have the bad habit of spending a lot of it on alcohol, guns, and cars and when the women get the money they ususally spend it on food and medicine for the family...we need to reevaluate our polices of giving money away and make sure it actually helps those in need
because africa has, for the most part, a patriarchal society, it is hard to get the money directly to the women so they can take care of their needy families...a program should be put in place that helps this situation, not cutting off the funding for those desperate people

 

[Frimost]

old info

Africa is the most exciting and fast paced continent in the World (Asia being second).

Anyway, Africa, being Africa and all, has changed a bit since that was written.

Sudan severed its ties with the rebels (that's what they get for not being Muslims, conditional support that evaporates when it become expedient to drop them like a hot potato) and allowed as many as 10,000 Ugandan soldiers to march over it's borders into Southern Sudan in an attempt to wipe out the rebels and destroy their base camps. Since the offensive Uganda has killed many of the LRA's middle level officers and leaders and over run all their main base camps chasing them into the hills. Now the LRA is sneaking back into Northern Uganda to carry out more massacres in the hopes of diverting the army’s attention from finishing the job in Sudan.

Here are some pictures of Ugandan armor moving into Sudan to wipe out the rebels in Operation "Iron Fist":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38126000/jpg/_38126703_armoured300.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38096000/jpg/_38096936_tank300.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38113000/jpg/_38113097_gun_afp150.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1980000/images/_1980333_tank150.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38059000/jpg/_38059222_ugsoldiers300.jpg

 

[Frimost]

Boy, Uganda's soldiers sure look a hell of allot better on the parade ground then in the field! lol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1925000/images/_1929899_armyafp300.jpg


http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1925000/images/_1929899_soldier150.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1980000/images/_1980333_soldiers150.jpg

 

[Frimost]

Joseph Kony

There is the asshole who started it all (on the right). He is the leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38112000/jpg/_38112894_konyandotti150_.jpg


And here is his adversary, Uganda's President Museveni.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1885000/images/_1885728_museveni_150.jpg

All these pictures thus far are courtesy of the BBC website.

 

[Frimost]

They're at it again!

Here are some excerpts from the LRA's latest atrocity in Uganda:

Twenty-four thousand people fled a refugee camp in northern Uganda after it was briefly overrun by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, a spokesman from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said.

The rebels overpowered the Ugandan army unit stationed at the UN camp and spent two hours looting.

"All the stocks, food and non-food, have been looted, and they completely burnt the staff quarters," Mr Malik said.

The BBC's Will Ross in Kampala says it is feared that more people may have died because, according to the UNHCR, the LRA rebels took control of a Ugandan army tank which they then turned on the refugees and government troops.


"The refugees are traumatised and they are trying to find ways of staying safe," Mr Malik said.

Thousands flee Ugandan rebel attack