Tag Archives: Atiak

End of search for Joseph Kony is a blow for victims

People attend memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 19 April 2017. Oryem Nyeko.
People attend memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 19 April 2017. Oryem Nyeko.

Even though 22 years have passed since the Lord’s Resistance Army rounded up, abducted and massacred hundreds at a trading centre in the Ugandan town of Atiak the community there still comes together every year to commemorate the events of April 1995.

Every year memorial prayers for the massacre take place at a primary school a short distance from where it took place. The prayers bring people from all walks of life, from children who are too young to remember the 20 year war, to elderly people who still bear the memory of loved ones that were lost and never found. A few outsiders also attend to show solidarity.

The purpose of memorial prayers in northern Uganda are often twofold. First, they allow the community to pay respects to the many victims of LRA’s war with the Ugandan government. Second, they bring the community together to draw wider attention to their experiences. In this way, they are used as a tool to make calls to the government and other actors for their justice and reconciliation needs to be addressed.

These kinds of events are significant for a region where hopes are high for redress for years of conflict. But progress here is slow. For instance, a national policy for transitional justice that was meant to provide the means to a reparations programme, truth-telling commissions and traditional justice, among other things, has delayed for years in the Ugandan cabinet with no word on when it will become a reality.

Even though we have seen headway in terms of justice with the ongoing proceedings against alleged LRA commanders Thomas Kwoyelo and Dominic Ongwen there are still gaps. Thomas Kwoyelo’s trial at the High Court of Uganda’s International Crimes Division is fraught with delays while Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC, though progressing, is not entirely reflective of the scope of the atrocities that were committed and the range of perpetrators that existed during the LRA-Government of Uganda war.

So when the news came that Ugandan and United States forces were withdrawing troops from their hunt for the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony the hopes of communities like have Atiak suffered another blow. This move comes despite the fact that Kony is still subject to an indictment by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Already in Uganda notions of international criminal justice exist on shaky ground, with the slow moving transitional justice processes here and the criticisms that institutions like the ICC regularly face. With this withdrawal, however, the likelihood of accountability as well as redress in the form of reparations for victim communities is reduced even further.

The reason that was given for the withdrawal does not help. Ugandan forces are reported to have made the decision to end the pursuit of the LRA because the mission in doing so was “already achieved”. This is problematic because it reinforces the message to victims of the atrocities that are alleged against Kony, as well as their communities, that accountability for the crimes that were committed during the war are not a priority.

Northern Ugandan communities themselves hear and are acutely aware of the meaning of messages like these. Many have come to terms with the fact that they must look towards themselves for redress rather than depend on others. This year, for example, the Atiak memorial prayers were focused on moving towards economic empowerment for the community. During the ceremony a religious leader urged the community to “find ways to work together for a better future.”

But do victims of conflict and their communities in Uganda have to exist in space where they are on their own? To respond to this, the conversation around accountability, justice and reconciliation needs to be shifted to the perspective of the people to whom it matters the most. If, for example, as much money, time and resources that was invested in the hunt for the LRA was instead used to support communities such as Atiak in their pursuit of justice then the impact would have been felt. Accountability for the crimes that were committed cannot be another area of redress for which northern Ugandan communities cannot depend on.

Oryem Nyeko works with the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu, Uganda. He can be found on twitter at @oryembley. This article was originally published on Coalition for the International Criminal Court and is published here with permission.

 

Standing together with the community of Atiak

Laying a wreath at the memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 20 April 2017. Credit: Patrick Odong/JRP.
Laying a wreath at the memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 20 April 2017. Credit: Patrick Odong/JRP.

As longstanding partners with the community of Atiak, we at the Justice and Reconciliation Project felt it was important to join the commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s massacre here today.

As an organization, we envision a just and peaceful society and believe that it is only by involving and empowering grassroots communities that this can be achieved.

We also believe in the use of commemoration as an important tool. It can be used to help people heal and reconcile. It can also be used to advocate for justice as well as redress for victims and the wider community.

As such, we see the theme of “moving towards economic empowerment amidst torture” as chosen for today, as a call for us all to continue to work together as community members, local and national government, non-governmental organisations and other partners.

As we remember the loss of our loved ones on 20 April 1995, we ask that we all continue to join hands to work for justice and reconciliation. JRP remains committed to support justice, accountability and reconciliation efforts of conflict affected people and we shall always be there for and with victims.

Addressing the Unredressed – Gaps and opportunities for affirmative action for war-affected women within local government programmes and services in northern Uganda

Policy Brief - Addressing the Unredressed Cover

On 15 September 2015, the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) at the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) convened a round-table meeting between 24 local government officials and 16 WAN members. The purpose of the meeting was to explore opportunities for war-affected women to benefit from existing and proposed government programmes as an interim avenue for redress for conflict-related wrongs they experienced during northern Uganda’s longstanding conflicts. The meeting was attended by sub-county chiefs, community development officers (CDOs), district community development officers (DCDOs), chief administrative officers (CAOs) and district speakers from Adjumani district in the West Nile sub-region; Gulu, Amuru, Pader and Nwoya districts in Acholi sub-region; and Lira district in Lango sub-region.

The meeting was supported with funding from the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), through a grant from the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women as well as the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE), Kampala. The objectives of the meeting were to share findings of a recent needs assessment survey conducted by JRP; to explore opportunities for war-affected women under current and proposed government programmes; and to facilitate discussion between war-affected women and their leaders on matters of justice, reconciliation and redress.

This policy brief draws upon the discussions and recommendations that emerged from the meeting and seeks to inform local governments across Uganda on the avenues through which they can work within their existing mandates to better meet the unredressed justice needs of war-affected women through targeted development assistance. It is divided into four sections: a background on transitional justice (TJ) including the major development programmes in the country, conflict sexual violence and the advocacy of the WAN at JRP; the needs and challenges facing war-affected women in northern Uganda; gaps, challenges and opportunities for local governments in meeting these needs and challenges; and practical recommendations for local and national government officials, war-affected women and civil society organisations.

Read the full policy brief here: Policy Brief – Addressing the Unredressed (PDF)

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Communities in Lango and Acholi work to memorialise their experiences

A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.
A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.

With funding support from USAID-SAFE Program, the Community Mobilization department at JRP conducted a series of trainings on themes of memory and reconciliation with 39 members of Community Reconciliation (CORE) teams in seven communities across Lango and Acholi sub-regions. Held in May, 2015, these trainings covered a range of topics including conflict mitigation, peace building, forgiveness and reconciliation, gender mainstreaming in peace building and reconciliation programs, trauma healing and counseling skills, and memory and memorialization. This helped the members of the CORE teams to understand the importance of memorialization and to envision an ideal memory and reconciliation project for their communities.

During the training, the participants examined the following questions in order to come up with an ideal memory project for each of the seven communities:

  • What are the conflict events that occurred in your areas?
  • What conflict event do you want to remember?
  • How would you like to remember it?
  • What memory projects would promote healing, advocacy and reconciliation for your communities?
  • What ideal memory project can you implement in your community?

These guiding questions helped the CORE team members to come up with ideas for memory projects in consultation with their respective victims’ communities, which could be implemented within five months in their communities. The seven communities came up with the following innovative ideas for community memory projects which are now nearing successful completion.

Lukodi: The community of Lukodi chose to write a book which documents life before the war, and also emphasizes how culture has been eroded by war and makes suggestions on how it can be rejuvenated. They also chose to legally register the acquired piece of land which serves as the memorial site for the Lukodi massacre of 2004. This would enable the community to transfer a monument for the massacre which is in another area to this land and to develop the site.

Parabongo: The community of Parabongo, with guidance of the CORE team, chose to construct a new memorial stone to replace an older barely visible monument. They envisage having a more visible monument in memory of the people killed by LRA in Parabongo in 2006.

Atiak: Together with the CORE team, the victims’ community in Atiak chose to develop a list of conflict memorabilia to be preserved to document their memory of the war. They also decided to develop a profile of those who were killed in the 1995 massacre, and after verifying the list of names, they will engrave and place it onto a memorial monument. The community also pledged to facilitate a process of community-led documentation through the use of arts to preserve memories of events that became a turning point in the lives of the people of Atiak at the peak of the war.

Burcoro: The community of Burcoro chose to construct a monument in memory of the people killed during the military operation led by NRA in Burcoro in 1991. They wished to preserve memories of state-led atrocities that were never acknowledged.

Odek: The people of Odek also felt they were never publicly acknowledged to have suffered during the LRA war. To them, putting up a memorial monument would communicate what they went through in order for them to also be considered for post-conflict reconstruction services. They, therefore, chose to construct a memory stone in memory of the mass killing by LRA in Odek.

Barlonyo: The community of Barlonyo decided to beautify their memorial site in order to celebrate the lives of their loved ones who perished in the 2002 massacre. They chose to fence and beautify the memorial site with a variety of beautiful flowers blooming in gardens adjacent to well-paved walkways.

Abia: In Abia, the community chose to erect a monument in the form of a statue of a helpless woman which depicts their plight in the aftermath of the massacre of 2004. They also decided to make a painting on the wall of memorial school in memory of their war experiences.

JRP pledged to support the seven communities in the implementation of their respective community memory projects, which have been shaping well over the last five months. As the projects near completion, JRP is proud to reaffirm its support to showcase community-relevant approaches to justice, healing and reconciliation.

Song, dance and theatre to highlight the transition challenges in Atiak

Members of Limo Can Tek victims' group in Pupwonya parish, Atiak rehearse for the Bearing Witness post-participation event on 16 October 2014. The event will be held at Atiak sub-county headquarters and will feature song, dance and theatre to highlight post-conflict transition challenges and solutions identified during the project.
Members of Limo-can Tek victims’ group in Pupwonya parish, Atiak rehearse for the Bearing Witness post-participation event on 16 October 2014. The event will be held at Atiak sub-county headquarters and will feature song, dance and theatre to highlight post-conflict transition challenges and solutions identified during the project.

Join the community of Atiak on 16 October 2014 at Atiak sub-county head-quarters when it hosts an event to showcase post-conflict transition challenges and discuss recommendations for the reconstruction of conflict affected communities brought forward during the Justice and Reconciliation Project’s memory and truth-telling project, Bearing Witness.

Since the beginning of 2014, supported by USAID-SAFE, JRP has worked with the community in Atiak, Amuru District to pilot an informal storytelling and truth-telling process called Bearing Witness – Dealing with the past to create a better future. During the project, community members have shared their experiences and perceptions during and after conflict through informal story-telling circles and truth-telling dialogues. Bearing Witness marks the first time a community-based truth-telling process, which directly involves different sectors of the community, has been implemented in the region.

To conclude this process, this event will bring together six of the victims’ groups that participated in Bearing Witness, community members as well as key invited stakeholders to interact and share conflict experiences through the use of creative arts. The event will help advocate for victim’s demands for justice, allow for a mutual understanding of common challenges and provide the means to chart a way forward. It will also feature performances of songs, dance, poetry and theatre performances prepared by the participants in the project that depict their conflict memories.

See the programme below:

11:00 am

Participant’s arrival

11:00 – 12:00pm

Spiritual worship – Rt. Rev. Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola II

Welcome remarks – Area LCI

Presentation (song) by Atiak Massacre Survivors Association (AMSA)

Welcome remarks – Chairman LCIII

Opening remarks – Program coordinator JRP

Remarks by Board Chairman – JRP

Opening remarks by USAID SAFE team

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Presentation by Limo-can Tek (song) entitled ‘Kony dwog Lutino gang”

Presentation by Waroco Paco (Ajere dance)

Remarks by sub-county Chief – Atiak sub county

1:00 – 2:00 pm

Presentation by Lagada Yil (song) entitled “Ting ter”

Remarks by Area Councillor V

Presentation by Lacan Penino (song)

Presentation of an account of “Bearing witness” project – Community Mobilisation Team Leader, JRP

Presentation of emerged justice and reconciliation needs and recommendations – Chairman Truth Telling and Reconciliation Committee, Rt. Rev. Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola II

2: 00 – 3:00pm

Presentation by Rubanga tek (drama) entitled “Alany pa mony”

Presentation by Atiak Massacre Survivors Association (AMSA) (Poem) entitled “Lweny labalpiny”

Open discussion – how to deal with legacy of conflict in northern Uganda, how to achieve reconciliation and national unity

“What is our role in post conflict reconstruction” – Moses Odokonyero, Northern Uganda Media Club (NUMEC)

Presentation by Waroco paco (song)

3: 00 – 4:00 pm

Presentation by Limo-can tek (Drama) entitled “Pyem miny neko paco”

Presentation by Lacan pe nino (Funeral dance)

Remarks by USAID Mission

Remarks by Area MPs

4:00 – 4:30pm

Closing remarks by Guest of honour

Presentation of Otole dance by Lagada yil

MC- Obalo James –Radio Mega

For more information contact Isaac Okwir Odiya: Team Leader Community Mobilisation on Tel: +256 (0) 471433008 /+256 (0) 782509839 or E-mail: iokwir@justiceandreconciliation.com.

 

Bearing Witness – dealing with the past to create a better future

A dialogue is conducted in Atiak sub-county as part of the Bearing Witness project.
A dialogue is conducted in Atiak sub-county as part of the Bearing Witness project.

This year is a significant one for victims and survivors of the LRA/NRA conflict in northern Uganda. It marks the first time a community-based truth-telling process, which directly involves different sectors of the community, has been implemented in the region. Through Bearing Witness: Dealing With The Past To Create A Better Future, the Justice and Reconciliation Project, with support from USAID SAFE, works with communities in Atiak sub-county in Amuru District to foster social cohesion and reconciliation through a project that involves storytelling and truth-telling dialogues.

Atiak was chosen to be the subject of this ground-breaking truth-telling pilot because of the remnants of an infamous LRA massacre in 1995 and the two-decade long conflict in the region that the sub-county faces (Read JRP’s Field Note on the Atiak Massacre here). While active conflict has ceased, the wounds of the massacre and the experiences are far from healed. Since the end of the war, the community has been characterised by ongoing trauma, the stigmatisation of formerly abducted children, identity challenges for children born in captivity, and the issues arising from the reintegration of former combatants. Like most other conflict-affected communities, Atiak also seeks reparations as well as answers about the fate of those that went missing during the war. The question is how national transitional justice processes can be translated into community-centred approaches that are both relevant to the victims and survivors of the conflict and which address the challenges that they face.

Through Bearing Witness, we aim to promote the preservation of conflict memories, healing and reconciliation by creating forums through which communities can share and document their experiences through story-telling and facilitating informal truth-telling processes and dialogues. Because of these sessions, key issues which require interventions to ensure reconciliation and peace in both the community and region have been identified. Victims of conflict and alleged perpetrators have also been able to speak out about their experiences side-by-side.

At the end of this year, a ten member locally elected Truth-Telling and Reconciliation Committee will provide recommendations to local peace structures, local leaders and the community to respond the issues that emerged during the truth-telling dialogues. A joint community theatre carnival event will also be held in Atiak on the 16th of October 2014. This will involve drama, music, dance, poem performances by the participants in the storytelling circles to kick-start the process of addressing injustices and rebuilding relationships between victims and perpetrators, as well as inspire the audience with visions for the future.

Stay tuned to the JRP blog for more updates from Bearing Witness.

Attiak Massacre Memorial Prayers 04/20/2012, Parts 1 & 2

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoaY28XUxpg&feature=youtu.be’]

Part 1 of footage of the 17th annual Attiak Massacre Memorial Prayers in Attiak, northern Uganda on April 20, 2012. Filmed by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP).

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4lpjfoN8rA&feature=relmfu’]

Part 2 of footage of the 17th annual Attiak Massacre Memorial Prayers in Attiak, northern Uganda on April 20, 2012. Filmed by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP).

“The roots of war: Atiak massacre, new wave of LRA brutality,” The Observer, 3 Oct 2011

“The roots of war: Atiak massacre, new wave of LRA brutality,” The Observer, 3 Oct 2011
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15266&Itemid=59

By Emma Mutaizibwa

Otti turned his village into a slaughterhouse by killing 300

The bright sun lit the sky on a Tuesday morning in Atiak, about 70km north of Gulu in present-day Amuru district. It was market day and traders, some having trekked miles from as far as Moyo district, had arrived as early as 5am to sell their merchandise.

Little did they know that LRA rebels had arrived earlier and were waiting to pounce. Vincent Otti, born and bred in Atiak, and by then a senior commander in the LRA, had often warned that he would turn his birthplace into a slaughterhouse. That warning became reality on Tuesday, April 22, 1995 and marked a new chapter in the civil war — a rare kind of violence the locals had never seen, and one the rebels had never unleashed.

On that day, in one of the ghastliest LRA episodes in northern Uganda that would come to transcend any earlier bloodbath, Otti, a profoundly violent man, ordered his soldiers to shoot civilians lying face-down until they were dead.

Emma Mutaizibwa revisits that day and the macabre massacre in Ayugi valley — the valley of death.

It was a chronicle of deaths foretold; an orgy of killing that would come to define the LRA’s brutal narrative in Northern Uganda. Atiak, 70km north of Gulu town, was a shabby outpost that had remained largely booming with trade even as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion raged on. Locals here say if the National Resistance Army (NRA), as the Ugandan army was known then, had heeded the warning by Joseph Kony’s henchman, Vincent Otti, perhaps the loss of lives on such a large scale could have been forestalled on the day of infamy.

Otti had warned for some time that he would carry out mass slaughter in his birthplace to punish the locals who had often said the LRA guns were rusty. Otti was then heading the LRA’s Red Brigade echelon, notorious for ambushes on vehicles, looting and abductions on the Gulu-Pakwach road up to Atiak in Kilak county.

A victim of his own brutality, he would later be killed after ascending to the second position in the rebel outfit, as Kony’s deputy. Kony, the LRA leader, ordered his execution in 2008 on allegations of an attempted palace coup. In 1995, Otti knew the terrain so well that by the time he planned the attack, he was fully aware that Atiak was poorly guarded and that, despite pleas from civilians that an attack was eminent, the NRA had not shored up enough troops.

To date, that massacre remains a black spot on the conscience of the army. At dawn, Otti, one of the most ruthless instruments of the LRA, and his motley bands, struck Atiak trading centre, first targeting the 75 local defence unit personnel (LDUs), a homegrown militia established to fend off rebel attacks. About 15 LDUs were killed and the others fled town, leaving the LRA to overrun the area.

For six hours, the LRA tormented their victims. Army units that had received advanced warnings only arrived much later in the afternoon after the bloodbath. Civilian eyewitnesses report that between 5am and 10am on the fateful day, there was exchange of heavy gunfire and grenades, before the LDUs was eventually overpowered by rebels. The LRA reportedly set fire to huts and began looting from local shops.

Individuals recalled that they sought out whatever hiding places they could find — fleeing to the bush, jumping into newly dug pit latrines, or simply remaining in their huts. Despite efforts to protect themselves, many civilians were directly caught in the crossfire or specially targeted, with an unknown number of casualties.

One survivor’s narration, according to research by the Justice and Reconciliation Project, reads: “At dawn, we started hearing gunshots. At about 8am, the rates of gunshots reduced. We came to learn that the rebels had entered the centre and were already abducting people, burning houses and killing people.

“Just as we were still trying to get refuge somewhere, the rebels got us and arrested us. They gathered us in one place and when we were still in the centre, we could see some dead bodies and wounded people lying about the centre.”

Another woman recalled: “When the battle had raged for some time, the rebels headed for the barracks. On their way, they fired randomly at the house. One of my youngest children said to me, ‘Mum, get my books so that we can run.’ I was so afraid and I had to restrain my kids. The boys in the other room got out, two of them ran away. It was only the elder boy who was too afraid to run because he had been abducted before.”

She continues: “He entered the house where we were. The battle went on all morning. When there was a lull, we tried getting out and making a run for it. The [rebels] saw us and fired at us.

“So, we had to take refuge in the house once again. Then I heard one of the soldiers saying that the house we were in should be set ablaze. I got afraid and got out with all the children.”

Once the LRA had captured the trading centre, civilians were rounded up and forced to walk into the bush. Some were forced to carry looted property.

“The rebels told us not to run away. We were surrounded and taken to a shop. I was given a sack of sugar to carry, while my eldest boy was given a sack of salt,” said a survivor.

Another witness of the massacre said: “They came and pointed a rifle at me. I dropped the child I was carrying and raised my hands. They asked me if all the children were mine. I told them they were my children. They told the children to go home, and told them their mother would follow later after carrying some loads.”

The woman carried her baby again and walked with the rebels. “When we had walked for about a mile, they ordered me to put down the child. I refused. They pierced me with a bayonet on the thigh. Then we went for another mile and I was pierced again on the thigh.

“We walked and when we had reached Ayugi, I was again pierced in the neck. I was now dripping with blood (sic). Then we walked and met with the rest of the people who had been abducted.”

En route, military helicopters arrived on the scene. But this was later in the afternoon. The LRA rebels instructed civilians to remove all light-coloured clothing and to take cover under the brush to avoid detection by the soldiers in the helicopters. During this time, the LRA attempted to bomb Atiak Technical School, the bombs narrowly missing the dormitories.

The rebels raided the dorms and forced students to join the group of civilians that had been rounded up in the town centre and made to march into the bush. It is estimated that approximately 60 students, some from Lango and Teso and a few from southern Uganda, were among those killed later.

The captured civilians arrived in a valley called Ayugi, where there is a stream called Kitang. There, able-bodied men and boys were separated from women, young children and the elderly. Otti lectured the civilians, chastising them for siding with the government.

According to one witness, “Otti told us that we were undermining their power. He also said we people of Atiak were saying that LRA guns have rusted. He said he had come to show us that his guns were still functioning. For that matter he ordered us to see how his guns can still work.”

He then ordered his men to shoot at the civilians. According to another eyewitness, Otti ordered his soldiers to kill “anything that breathed”.

They then commanded children below eleven years, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers to stand aside. Recounting the day of terror, another survivor said: “I had a sizeable child I was carrying. I shifted with them to where they told us to stand. I could not reach my little boy, who was seated with students of Atiak technical school.

“The remaining group of people was then commanded to lie down. Then they were showered with bullets. Nobody got up to attempt running away. After the bullets went silent, the soldiers were ordered to fire a second time on the dead corpses, to make sure nobody survived. They even fired a third time to make sure all the people had been killed.”

Many of the survivors watched in horror as their children were killed.

“I was so scared because I had seen my boy being shot. I wept silently and my children told me not to cry . . . My boy had been shot in the leg but still alive. They later finished him off with a bayonet.”

Another survivor recounted: “They began by telling us mothers, pregnant women and children below 13 years to move aside. They told the rest of the people to lie down and for us to look straight at them — if you look at a different direction, they can shoot you dead.

“They fired at the people first, and then again for the second time to ensure that they are all dead . . . My first-born child, mother-in-law, father-in law and my husband were all killed as I watched them die. I returned with four children whom I am struggling to take care of now.”

After the massacre, others were forced to go with the LRA to carry looted goods. As one survivor explained after showing us the scars on his face and back, many of those abducted did not survive. Others abducted that day were initiated into the LRA through brutal tactics and went on to fight or act as sex slaves for senior commanders.

The total number of persons killed in the massacre varies between 200 and 300. Some people disappeared and their whereabouts are still unknown — after the massacre, it was not possible to identify all of the dead. Government, in the aftermath of the Atiak massacre, severed diplomatic ties with the Khartoum regime.

But the massacres in the Acholi-sub-region did not relent. As a result of the bloodletting, President Yoweri Museveni, in May 1996, appointed his brother, then Maj Gen Salim Saleh, to try to bring an end to the LRA conflict.

Col James Kazini, who was murdered in 2009, was appointed 4 Division commander based in Gulu. But why did the NRA, which later became the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), fail to defeat the LRA?

In the next series, we revisit Saleh’s mission to decimate the LRA and why Kony and his bands remained undefeated.

mutaizibwa@observer.ug

Students in Atiak

Remembering the Atiak Massacre: April 20th 1995, FN IV

Students in Atiak
Students in Atiak

On April 20th 1995, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) entered the trading centre of Atiak and after an intense offensive, defeated the Ugandan army stationed there. Hundreds of men, women, students and young children were then rounded up by the LRA and marched a short distance into the bush until they reached a river. There, they were separated into two groups according to their sex and age. After being lectured for their alleged collaboration with the Government, the LRA commander in charge ordered his soldiers to open fire three times on a group of about 300 civilian men and boys as women and young children witnessed the horror. The LRA commander reportedly in charge – the now indicted second in command Vincent Otti – then turned to the women and children and told them to applaud the LRA’s work. Before leaving, youth were selectively rounded up and forced to join the LRA to serve as the next generation of combatants and sexual slaves.

Twelve years later, the wounds of the massacre have far from healed. As the survivor’s testimony at the beginning of this report puts it, “all of us live as if our bodies do not have souls.” Despite the massacre being one of the largest and by reputation most notorious in the twenty-one year history of the conflict, no official record, investigation or acknowledgement of events exists. No excavation of the mass grave has been conducted and therefore the exact number of persons killed is not known. Survivors literally live with the remains of bullet fragments inside them. Although the massacre site is only a few kilometres from the trading centre, a proper burial of those slaughtered 12 years ago is not complete: as one survivor reminds us, “the bodies of some people were never brought back home, because there were no relatives to carry them home.”

This report seeks to provide the first known written record of events leading to the massacre based on the testimony of 41 survivors and witnesses, as well as prominent community members. It does not claim to be complete, but rather provides a partial record in hopes of prompting the Government to begin an investigation into the multiple massacres that have taken place in Uganda. Ideally, this will lead the Government to advance a transitional justice strategy, together with civil society, that will begin to heal the open wounds of Atiak. To this end, recommendations are advanced in the final sections of this report.

To access the report, click here