Nabusayi L. Wamboka
20 August 2002
analysis
It is one of those nightmares that come in the middle of the night, with strange people chasing you, trying to kill you.
You toss and turn and scream for help. In dreams, help never comes, or comes too late.
The nightmare returned in the middle of the night, to Irianga-Lalya village, off the road to Bungatira, 2km north of town, near one of the safest places in Gulu - the army barracks.
Only this time it was not a dream.
The town awoke to another attack by what are suspected to be Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army that left five people dead and over 21 huts burnt to ashes.
In a flash, the group of about 30 had melted back into the night, without a trace.
A ten-minute ride on a boda boda brought us face-to-face with death, destruction and destitution.
Okwong Jinaral, 25, survived the attack by a cat's whiskers.
"It was about 3 a.m. when they attacked. They broke into our hut and ordered us out. They made me carry some merchandise they had looted from a nearby shop and made my 12-year old son Ojok Peter, carry bombshells," Okwong said.
"Six miles away at a place called Akonyi, they told us to put down the stuff and run," Okwong said.
He did, but when he turned, his son was still with the rebels, still carrying the bombshells and retreating further into the bush.
"I just turned and started running. Seven of us where released. I don't know how many were taken, but I know my son was one of them," Okwong said.
Sam Olanya stood helpless as the last of what used to be his hut burnt to ashes.
"At around midnight I suspected something. There was a lot of movement outside, which I found unusual. When I heard the first shot, I just jumped through the widow and run into the bush," he said.
The next time he looked, his hut was up in flames.
His neighbours Owona Laurie and wife Paula Lala were seated in the morning sun, trying to shake warm off the cold. What remained in the ashes of their home was the drum used to make local brew, which was still smoking.
"The only hut they didn't burn, they looted. They just plucked out the windows and made off with blankets and clothes," Lala was said.
As the rebels withdrew, with the Uganda People's Defence Forces in hot pursuit, they left a trail of fire lighting up the entire neighbourhood, all residents in the bushes.
In Agonga Parish, Bungatira sub-county stray bullets left a mother and two children dead.
Two other people, one suspected to be a rebel and another a common thief, where killed in the crossfire.
One mamba, a UPDF armoured vehicle, sent to pursue the rebels was hit and partially destroyed.
Army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza described the rebels as "small groups that break up and infiltrate villages".
"One rebel was killed and some stupid African who wanted to take advantage of the chaos and steal, so he was also killed," Bantariza said.
Bantariza denied that the mamba was destroyed.
"It is the same mamba guarding them now. It was hit but it wasn't destroyed. You can't destroy a mamba, unless you hit the tyre," he said.
The Gombolola Internal Security Officer, Omonya Fabian, was going around the village verifying the damage.
"It is up to the army to pursue the rebels. There is nothing much we can do. We shall send this information to NGOs who can offer relief to the victims," he said.
As we left Irianga-Lalya village, and headed back to the safety of Kampala, I couldn't help but ponder the dream of peace and security "ushered in by the NRM".
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