A soldier took my child's life' By John Muto-Ono p'Lajur "Aaai! Aaai!..," 3-year-old Okot Daniel cried as he woke up. Then there was silence again. The sharp cry, combined with a burst of machine gunfire that rent the early morning sky of Jan. 15, woke Auma Mariam. She wondered what else could have troubled her son into issuing such a yelp of anguish. The gunfire wasn't particularly worrying because the people living in Te-gwana parish, Pece Division of Gulu municpality, are accustomed to the firing of guns by government troops in their area.
It was 1.00 a.m. Auma did not know that her son had been hit by a stray bullet. The round that must have been from a Light Machine Gun (LMG) tore through Okot's fragile body through his bottom and exited from the navel. She tried to sooth him back to sleep. In the darkness of her hut she held his body to herself - and then she felt a warm liquid on her son. "Why did you urinate?" She asked. There was silence. She got the shock of her life after striking a match and lighting a lamp. The warm liquid was not urine, but blood. Okot had been shot - he died shortly afterwards of internal bleeding. Four hours before Okot died, a group of ten soldiers came to the village from the direction of Cereleno Market, one kilometre away along the Kampala highway. Rebels of the Lord's resistance Army were reported to be operating around Cubu village, two kilometres to the east. They laid an ambush 20 twenty meters away from the hut where Auma and her children were having a peaceful sleep. A neighbour, Magendo Thomas (27), a trained cadre from Pabbo sub-county in Kilak county, Gulu says this particular spot has always been used by different units of the army to stage ambushes. "We know they always patrol this area around midnight to around one in the morning then they would leave. I didn't fear when I heard the bullets because I knew these were government soldiers," he said. He says there was no exchange of fire with alleged rebels in the area as the pattern of shooting was one directional to the east "We have never experience any rebel in the area. During our cadre course, we were taught never to run anyhow whenever bullets are being fired. Moreover the shooting outside was one directional without any return fire." According to Akello Jennifer, another witness who escaped by the grace of God, the soldier who killed the baby operated an LMG twenty-five metres away and deliberately aimed at the grass-thatched huts in front of him. Both Akello and Magendo testify that the commander of this particular unit was overheard ordering the soldiers to leave the scene immediately they realised that they have killed somebody and that there were no rebels in the area. "When they heard the cry of the child, the commander ordered them tuondeke, tuondeke (Loose Swahili for let us get out of here)," they said. The Monitor visited the scene and from close scrutiny, it would appear the killer soldier was lying on the ground as he fired because bullet holes on the left-hand side of the hut were just about 30cm off ground level. The LMG muzzle on tripods stands at about this height when mounted on a level surface. Hours after he died, Okot's boy was laid to rest at Aywee village. The burial ceremony was painful. Only five elderly women sat around the coffin. The rest, about one hundred men and women sat solemnly, in the compound. Tradition dictates that a murdered person is never mourned. The body is buried with its head facing outward, in search of revenge. The grave is never compacted, so as to allow the spirits escape for revenge. The Acholi believe that the spirit will never rest until it is satisfied that it has got justice. The remains of Okot were properly interned according to tradition. Rev. Willy Olango, Speaker of Gulu Local Council and LCV Councillor of Alero sub-county, Nwoya County, from where the family was displaced, says the army only provided a coffin, beans and maize flour. Olango says the war is not killing the people who ignited the rebellion, but innocent victims like Okot who die in their beds. What angered people here is a news item aired on Mega FM, a government-run radio station here that morning. The report claimed the baby was killed in crossfire with the rebels. "This is unacceptable. How can they report that the child died in crossfire when there were no rebels around. This radio is not helping us," an elder says. Unconfirmed reports here allege the soldier has been arrested but his identity is still a secret. Army spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza refused to comment, saying he fears being misrepresented by The Monitor. "I have decided to let you report what you want to say or from other sources because of fear of misrepresentation. Tell your editor that I have refused to comment because his captions try to make me a liar," Bantariza said. At the burial Auma's heart-rending cry was "Ricac ni kono cela aye" (Luo for that bullet should have hit me instead). January 22, 2003 00:28:48
