Fear sends scores of IDPs fleeing from camps into Lira town

Scores of internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps near Lira town, on Tuesday took flight to seek refuge in the town centre, alongside students from a nearby boarding school who also flocked in to join the thousands of other IDPs already living there, relief workers and local officials said. At Oguk trading centre near the stricken Barlonyo camp, UN agencies and NGOs are registering and giving aid to at least 2,500 IDPs who fled Saturday's massacre by rebels of at least 200 IDPs at the camp. This most devastating massacre of civilians so far during the 18-year conflict in northern Uganda, was perpetrated by about 300 Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who, dressed like regular army soldiers and armed with assault rifles and artillery, attacked the Barlonyo camp, 26 km north of Lira town, and overpowered the local Amuka militia posted there to protect it. The rebels burned many of the IDPs alive by setting fire to their thatched huts after ordering them into their homes at gunpoint. Other IDPs, who were trying to flee, were shot, bludgeoned or hacked to death by the rebels wielding clubs, machetes and AK-47s. Local leaders counted at last 192 bodies at the scene. Relief workers told IRIN staff from the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme, the UN Children's Fund, and various NGOs, including the Red Cross, Caritas and Coopid, as well as local leaders were meeting in Lira, 380 km north of the capital, Kampala, to evaluate the immediate humanitarian needs of the IDPs and affected local people. President Yoweri Museveni, who arrived in Lira on Monday night, visited Lira Referral Hospital the following morning and made a public apology for the massacre. Blaming his army for having allowed the attack take place, he stressed yet again, however, that the LRA would be defeated militarily. Roman Catholic missionaries in Lira said 32 more bodies had been discovered near the site of Barlonyo camp. Meanwhile, another five people among the injured in Lira hospital had died, bringing the total death toll to 257. At UN headquarters, meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly condemned the "senseless massacre". "The Secretary-General appeals to all those at the national and international levels who are in a position to stop the terrible cycle of violence in northern Uganda to do their utmost to protect innocent civilians," Fred Eckhard, his spokesman, quoted him as saying. In Kampala, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Daouda Toure, also condemned the attack. "The main victims of these ruthless attacks are defenceless civilians, women and children. Over the past few years, thousands of lives have been lost senselessly while over 1.4 million people have lost their homes and their livelihoods. These atrocities have to come to an end," he said. The acting UN high commissioner for human rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, also condemned the massacre in the "strongest possible terms", calling for "the perpetrators of this appalling crime to be brought to justice in accordance with international norms". OCHA said the conflict in northern and eastern Uganda had brought a devastating impact to bear on the region. "About 75 percent of the population, have been displaced. Children, in particular, have suffered enormously. An estimated 30,000 children have been abducted since the mid 1990s," it said. "All children are at risk of being abducted, forced to fight and commit atrocities, and subjected to sexual violence and sexual slavery." "Fear of abduction and attacks prevent most people in the camps from cultivating the land. Economic activities have largely come to a halt and most displaced persons depend on aid for their survival. But the provision of aid poses several challenges, among which are access to victims and their security in places of residence," OCHA added. Relief workers estimate that of the 1.4 million IDPs in northern and eastern Uganda, 300,000 are in nine camps in Lira town alone, and another 200,000 in more than 10 camps in rural areas north and east of the town. Barlonyo camp was home to 4,800 people. The cult-like LRA, led by a reclusive mystic, Joseph Kony, say they want to topple the government, which is dominated by southerners, and restore power to the northern people. Yet most of the group's atrocities are committed against defenceless civilians, usually fellow Acholis. Kony claims to have magic powers derived from the Holy Spirit, and manipulates beliefs in witchcraft to instil fear in his followers.