Rebels massacre 200 in Uganda

Government forces swept through villages in northern Uganda today in pursuit of rebels who killed nearly 200 unarmed civilians seeking shelter at a displaced persons’ camp.

The army clashed with a small group of rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army yesterday, killing one insurgent, said Lieutenant Chris Magezi of the Ugandan army.

The rebels, armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, raided Barlonyo camp north of Lira town late on Saturday, shooting people as they fled and burning others in their mud and grass huts.

It was one of the worst attacks in recent years by the shadowy group, which has been fighting the Ugandan government for 17 years.

The violence raised questions about the Ugandan government’s claims that it is defeating the rebellion by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, which says it wants Uganda to be governed by the 10 Commandments.

Charles Angiro, a parliament member representing the region, said he and other local officials counted 192 bodies after the attack.

“I went to the site and we divided ourselves into groups and counted 500 huts burnt down. About 100 bodies have already been buried, some in mass graves and others individually,” Angiro said.

Dr Jane Aceng, head of Lira hospital, said six of the dozens wounded died last night.

The camp, 16 miles north of Lira, was home to about 5,000 people who were among the one million people who have fled to camps because of the insurgency.

The camp had been guarded by members of a local defence force, but they were outnumbered and outgunned.

The rebel group, which has wreaked havoc across northern and northeastern Uganda, rose from the remnants of a revolt by soldiers from the Acholi tribe after President Museveni, a southerner, seized power in 1986 after leading his own five-year bush war.

The Acholi is the dominant tribe in northern Uganda.