[allAfrica.com] [celtel.com] The West Nile Was Forgotten New Vision (Kampala) OPINION August 23, 2004 Posted to the web August 23, 2004 By James Appe Kampala What happened in Luweero started in West Nile! In his his letter of August 7 Rev Francis Aseete listed a number of national crises in Uganda since independence. However, his list did mention the carnage in West Nile in 1980. It may not have been a deliberate omission on his part but it is not acceptable. It shows that the determined efforts by the government of the day to suppress news of the atrocity have succeeded. As a victim and survivor, it behoves me to set the record straight on that sad event. The massacre in West Nile ranks as one of the most brutal, systematic and thorough destruction of lives in the history of Uganda. The carnage started in October 1980. This was soon after the Tanzanian army withdrew from the region. It appears that elements in the UNLA had already drawn up plans to take revenge on the people of West Nile for their purported support of Idi Amin. The pretext used to launch the massacre was a brief attack and occupation of Arua town by members of former Uganda army who had taken refuge in Zaire. As if they had been waiting for this signal, thousands of ill-trained recruits of UNLA were dispatched to the region, supposedly to liberate it and restore order. That was when hell broke loose on the population. The troops involved were recruited, trained and armed in Kitgum. The force appears to have been created as soon as Kampala fell to the TPDF in April 1979. They were originally intended to defend their homes in case of attack by members of the defeated UNLA. They wore shabby and tattered old army uniforms and had shoes made from the car tyres. Their training consisted of learning how to shoot and nothing else. Reaching Adjumani on October 10, the soldiers shot anything and everybody on sight. Only those lucky enough to flee to the Sudan in time escaped the carnage. For weeks the dead were left to rot by the roadsides and vultures and dogs feasted on them! This pattern was repeated in all the towns and trading centres the UNLA claimed it had liberated. To this day, the number of those killed during the first few days is not known, but my guess is it was around 5000. Overnight, most towns in the region were turned into ghost towns. Only about 1000 people were left in Arua town and these were the ones who had taken refuge at the Ombaci Catholic mission. A much smaller group of people were left in Moyo, perhaps as few as 100. Other towns fared even worse. For instance, no single person was left in Koboko, Yumbe and a string of smaller trading centres. Even after Obote's government was installed in December 1980, the massacre did not stop. The commanders of the various military garrisons took it upon themselves to 'pacify the region' and let the UNLA loose on the remnants of the population. The atrocities provoked the emergence of rebel groups like the UNRF, and that complicated matters further for the remaining people. Mere suspicion that one had links with rebels led to immediate execution which were done in the most inhuman and barbaric way. The victims had their throats cut with knives like goats. This was done in public as a warning to those thinking of joining rebels! The rebels also captured and killed anyone who strayed from the towns to look for food, accusing them of being UNLA spies. Men were forced to watch as their wives and daughters were raped in in broad day light. the carnage in West Nile will be remembered as one of the major crises in the recent history of Uganda.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2004 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================