UGANDAÂÂ23/2/2004Â18:20
BARLONYO MASSACRE: A WEEK OF MOURNING IN MEMORY OF VICTIMS
A week of mourning in memory of the victims of the massacre of Barlonyo and a day of prayer on the scene of the atrocity, with the closing of all businesses: these are the decision taken today by the assembly held in Lira, administrative centre of the district of North Uganda where two days ago at least 220 people were massacred, based on latest estimates.
As referred by MISNA sources, authorities, local politicians, religious leaders, police and military officials and co-ordinators of economic activities of the community met this morning to discuss the critical situation in this zone of the nation. In face of the horrors perpetrated on Saturday, when the rebels of the LRA (lordâs Resistance Army) set fire to hundreds of huts and shooting unarmed civilians, the assembly established that from today to March 1 a week of mourning will be observed in memory of the victims and a sort of prayer âpilgrimageâ will be organised on the scene of the massacre. The meeting was also marked by moments of tension, particularly for the presence of the military officers: the people in fact attribute serious responsibilities to the Ugandan soldiers for the lack of protection for civilians.
The Lira assembly wants the government of Kampala to call for international help in defeating the rebels of North Uganda. Not only, the Lango â the community of Lira â declared that if the Ugandan military is unable to defend the civilians in the displaced camps, they should be transferred to safer locations; to also consent humanitarian organisations to guarantee assistance to the hundreds of thousands of displaced currently living in inhumane conditions.
MISNA sources also added that all the participants of todayâs meeting agreed on the point that the rebels have no political objective, but that their ferocious actions are aimed merely at shedding innocent blood. Local leaders and the civil society of Lira also call for major support for the self-defence militias (the so-called âAmukaâ), that must help the regular forces in guaranteeing protection to the civil population. Also armed forces commander General Aronda Nyakarina arrived in the past hours in Lira to intervene in the meeting.
Reports indicate that also Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is headed to the scene of the massacre perpetrated by the rebels, which the Head of State has claimed on several occasions to have defeated, but that in reality continue reaping death and destruction in North Uganda.
[BO]
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
