27 July 2003
editorial
Kampala — On Thursday, a pregnant Gulu woman, Ms Kacilina Aunu and her 18-year-old son Francis Lakony were shot dead, apparently by government soldiers on foot patrol. The woman who was in her labour pains was being rushed on a bicycle to Gulu Hospital at 2 a.m. But that was not to be. Their lives and that of the unborn child were ended tragically with the bullets that have come to define life - and death - in northern Uganda.
Earlier on Tuesday, nine people attending a funeral in Obalanga, Katakwi district in eastern Uganda were killed by a UPDF helicopter gunship on anti-rebel operations, apparently after mistaking them for rebels. Many more were left nursing injuries.
But this is not new. There have been many more such incidents in the past that for many ordinary people in the war torn north and north-east there is no telling on which side of the conflict they will die - government or the rebel side.
While we appreciate the difficult situation under which soldiers in the north are operating, the army must start to take seriously the issue of "friendly" fire against civilians so as to avoid this continued loss of lives in the middle of an unending conflict.
Are there, for instance, defined steps which soldiers on patrol must take - like firing a warning shot in the air and only shooting at the person if he/she returns fire?
It is not enough for the army to say, like 4 Division spokesman Lt. Paddy Ankunda was quoted saying on FM radio news, that the woman and her son were moving at an awkward hour, and so by inference are responsible for the fate that befell them.
Yes, the army has always provided coffins, food items and a little money for the funeral expenses of victims of "friendly fire" but that cannot be any consolation for the people caught in this conflict - that at least they will be buried decently!
The UPDF top brass and ultimately the political establishment should show remorse for the so-called 'friendly fire'. This remorse can only be depicted through severe punishment of the trigger-happy UPDF officers and men who are responsible for loss of these innocent lives.
Ultimately however, government must seriously pursue the peaceful option to solve the northern war because 17 years of bullets has only wrought death - to the combatants and innocent civilians.
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