Just last week I met an Acholi man here who told me off, that there is no problem now in the North.
He stated that those who own buses now make $1,000 daily on the Kampala-Gulu road.
He didn't like to be contradicted with 'the loose talk of genocide in the North'.
Hon Norbert Mao too is not fair to think that all of us from other parts of Uganda have never cared about the crimes being committed against these our fellow citizens.
I only wish there was a voice of the multitudes to put our collective foot down, in revolt.
It is astounding though to to be asked to stop 'this propaganda', by none other than Acholi sons themselves !!
Yesterday money for relief for the children of Northern Uganda was being collected at an Educational Institution here.
The two Ugandans in attendance challenged these white do-gooders to, instead, call for accountability from the regime!
Isn't Baroness Lynda Chalker's company that struck oil in Uganda registered here in Toronto? Canada's corporate laws must definetely have guidelines on acceptable conduct.
At the end of the day one wonders how we even look at ourselves in the mirror everyday with this holocaust in our midst.
Mitayo Potosi
==============================================
From: Ochan Otim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: The First Virtual Network for friends of Uganda <ugandanet@kym.net>
To: ugandanet@kym.net
Subject: [Ugnet] Fwd: Response to New Vision Editorial
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:54:41 -0700
From: "Bishop Baker Ochola"
Subject: RE: Bishop Ochola - War in the north is not genocide
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:37:12 +0000
Dear fellow Ugandans, and people of the world
I personally give glory to the Almighty God for the opportunity He has given me to give my testimony, to the Episcopal Church of the United States of America through its General Convention, on the genocide that has been unfolding in Northern Uganda for the last 20 years, while the whole world turns a blind eye to it, as both the Church of Christ in the world and the international Community did about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The consequence of the world's conspiracy of silence about the genocide in Rwanda has been the terrible loss of human lives of the innocent children of the minority Tutsi. What message does the world or the Church of Christ has to tell the people of Rwanda today who have survived the genocide in Rwanda in 1994? Tell me the answer if you have any to offer to the people of Rwanda about our failure to stop the genocide happening on our watch in 1994, when we had all the possibilities to do so.
As for what is happening in Northern Uganda for the last 20 years, it is nothing less than genocide in the truest sense of the word. It is a situation which cannot be allowed to happen even in Kampala in Uganda or in London in UK or in New York and Washington DC, in USA. That is how bad it is. It is genocide against humanity, if it is happening in Kampala in Uganda or in London in UK or in New York and Washington DC, in USA. That is why such a situation cannot be allowed to prevail even for a minute in Kampala in Uganda or in London in UK or in New York and Washington DC, in USA.
The question is, why such unspeakable, unbelievable, and unimaginable situation has been allowed to prevail in Northern Uganda for the last 20 years? The fact that inhuman and appalling conditions in the IDP camps have been killing the children of Northern Uganda at the rate of over 1000 children per week for over a decade, is clear evidence of deliberate genocide against humanity in Northern Uganda by the NRA/M Government in power in Uganda today. As the Prophet Isaiah says a leader cannot be separated from his or her words and walk because people do what people see in their leaders. The measure of a leader is what he or she does with power given him or her by God. A leader must touch a heart before he or she ask for a hand from the people.
For the last 20 years the NRA/M leadership has failed to touch a heart of the people in Northern Uganda. Have we taken the trouble to ask ourselves, as citizens of Uganda, why this has been the case with the Leadership of the NRA/M for the last 20 years? Why there is much division and disagreement within the NRA/M leadership that has led to open challenge to the NRA/M leadership in the recent years concerning its policy towards the peoples of Northern Uganda?
Let us be clear, my dear brothers and sisters in God, in Uganda and in other parts of the world, that a divided leader will eventually produce a divided nation and people. If what is happening in Northern Uganda cannot be called genocide by some peoples, particularly in Uganda, it is because the NRA/M Government does not lead by principles, but by emotions. Otherwise the situation prevailing in Northern Uganda could not have lasted all these 20 years without putting an end to it.
Therefore do not just deny that there is no genocide in Northern Uganda without seeing what is on the ground, the reality on the ground in Northern Uganda. Please stand on the truth, commitment and principles in life for all future children of Uganda including the children of Northern Uganda. Today the children of Northern Uganda have been denied the rights to life, growth, development of their God-given potential, just like any other children of the world.
If you want to know the gravity of the situation of Northern Uganda you only need to go and attend any graduation ceremonies in any University campuses in Kampala , you see the reality on the face that the Country has already been polarized for too long by this NRA/M Government. Almost every graduate comes from the Southern part of Uganda which is peaceful and prosperous and no students from the poor war-ravaged Northern Uganda. The truth of the matter is there will be no educated people from Northern Uganda who are qualified enough to participate in the development of their Country in the future. This is not the Uganda many of us would want to see for the destiny of our future posterity in Uganda. Therefore this unbelievable situation in Northern Uganda is called genocide by its rightful name, if you do not know yet.
I say this in the name of the truth in God who has created humanity in His own image. Amen!
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on the editorial entitled, âWar in the north is not genocideâ that appeared in the Thursday, June 22, 2006 New Vision. First of all, Retired Bishop Ochola has been very clear and consistent in calling a spade a spade. The war in the north is genocide. It is the New Vision and the Government of Uganda who have been waffling or flip flopping about it. Right from President Museveni all the way down to NRM functionaries, they always debate whether to call the tragedy a war, conflict, genocide or what. This is not because they do not know what it is, but because of a deliberate attempt to misinform the world and therefore cover up what has been going on for the last 20 years. Second, what is critical is not the name but what must be done to end the tragedy. Third, it does not matter whether the people in the camps were forced by the LRA, UPDF or relocated on their own because they are suffering tragically in the camps. Instead of wasting time and energy arguing about how they got there, we should focus on restoring peace.
I agree with the editorial that genocide means âthe deliberate extermination of a people or nationâ. In the northern tragedy, there are evidences showing that the action of the government against the people of the north was and still is deliberate and intended to destroy Acholi as a people. First, since 1986 or even earlier, Museveni mounted a hate campaign against the people of the north; calling them biological substances and many other demeaning names, threatening to kill them like ensenene trapped in a bottle, gloating about massacring them. No less than five times, Museveni scuttled serious efforts to negotiate peace (2004, 2003, 2000, 1994, 1988 and 1985). The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, unanimously supported by a Ugandan parliamentary resolution, called upon the Government to declare the north a disaster area, only to be rejected by the government. Furthermore, many times President Museveni declared that peace had returned to Uganda since 1996 and has similarly declared the war over in total disregard of what New Vision calls âa terrible tragedyâ.
It is also significant to remember that Museveni declared that he will teach the Acholi people a lesson that they will never recover from. In private conversations, it is revealed that the lesson is to teach the Acholis that they are not the only ones who know how to fight. Having failed to militarily defeat the LRA, Museveni changed to a new strategy, which is to destroy Acholis as a people. This is why so long as the LRA remains out of reach, Museveni will not be interested in ending the war in the north. Therefore, it is not surprising that the IDPs camps have come to represent the figurative ensenene bottle, a death trap.
Although the people are reluctant to move out of the camps, it does not equal to the absence of genocide in the north. The people simply feel like being between a rock and a hard place. If they stay in the camps, they will die from preventable conditions and if they go home, they may die at the hands of UPDF, LRA or common criminals. It is this untenable situation that has created a condition for genocide. The LRA exists because of Museveni and Museveni is still president today because of the LRA. The losers are the people in the IDPs camps, rightfully called concentration camps by a British MP.
It is also true that there are some senior Acholis in the Museveni government. However, they are no more than tokens. Regrettably, it is some of those Acholis whom the government uses to do its dirty job. In fact, Museveni often asserts that Acholis are killing themselves, precisely because he uses the LRA on the one hand and those who work for the government to go against each other. Even the Nazis used some Jews to execute their own people. Therefore, the fact that there are some Acholis in the Museveni government cannot be used as an argument to deny the existence of genocide in Acholiland.
When Dr. Olara Otunnu spoke against the genocide early this year, the government argued that he does not know about the situation on the ground since he had never been to Uganda in 20 years. Yet, government officials have no problem accepting facts established in the distant past or in distant countries where they donât live. Why is it so difficult for them to accept the fact that Dr. Otunnu is well informed about his home situation even if he has not physically lived there for 20 years? This time when the Retired Bishop spoke about it, they are more worried about tarnishing the image of the country abroad instead of showing concerns for the lives being lost in the camps. Such a response betrays the callousness with which the Kampala regime regards the lives of northerners trapped in th IDPs camps. How perverted it is to put priority on saving the image of a country ahead of the lives of its citizens who live in the IDPs camps.
Finally, like cancer, genocide can occur in different ways. Under the Nazis, it took months. In Rwanda, it took several days. In Kosovo, it also took days if not weeks. In northern Uganda, Museveni has orchestrated a situation in which genocide is slow and oblique. Besides, the Kampala regime has effectively used its public relations resources to cover it up from the international community. In Rwanda the world debated whether there was genocide or not until 800,000 people were killed. Then the world swore âNever againâ. Apparently, the swearing did not include indirect and slow acting genocide. Will the world wait till 800,000 people in the camps are dead before they will call it genocide and swear another ânever againâ.
Okot Nyormoi
Morrisville, NC USA
War in the north is not genocide
Thursday, 22nd June, 2006E-mail article
Print article
THE recent General Convention of the Episcopalian Church in the USA made global headlines on women and gay clergy but it also heard a controversial presentation from the retired Bishop of Kitgum Macleod Ochola.
He told the convention, the American part of the Anglican communion to which the Church of Uganda belongs, that there had been genocide in northern Uganda for the last 20 years. Ochola said that both the UPDF and the LRA were responsible as well as conditions in the IDP campus.
Obviously the war in the north has been a terrible tragedy but it cannot be called a genocide. Genocide means the deliberate extermination of a people or a nation.
The term was coined after the Nazis killed seven million Jews during the Second World War. Hitler actually wanted to create a world where there were no more Jews.
This cannot be said of northern Uganda. Whatever the failings of the army in ending the rebellion, whatever the difficulties in the IDP camps, there has been no attempt to kill all Acholi and Langi in Uganda. There are many senior Acholi in both the army and government. Were there many Jews in Hitlers government or in the SS?
The IDP camps were initially established by the army in Gulu in 1996 but after 2000 many camps arose spontaneously as people fled the LRAs terror campaign. Even today many people are reluctant to leave the IDP camps as government tries to decongest them. How then can the IDP camps be instruments of genocide?
It is also absurd to insinuate that the LRA and the UPDF bear equal responsibility for the killings of civilians.
The word genocide may impress foreigners but Ugandans abroad should realise that it is a false accusation that can fundamentally damage the countrys international reputation. No-one should claim that there is genocide in northern Uganda.
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Ochan Otim
NB: In case you are not aware, there is a petition to stop the Northern Uganda Genocide at: http://www.petitiononline.com/savacoli/petition.html
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