Army blamed for massacre
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni today blamed last weekend’s devastating rebel attack in northern Uganda on “mistakes” by the army and apologised to the region’s people.
Making a personal visit to the area where 200 unarmed civilians were hacked, shot and burned alive at a refugee camp, Museveni said the army should never have allowed the attack to happen.
He recalled the region’s commander to army headquarters for further training.
“It’s very sad, on behalf of the government, or the army, I apologise to the people because the mistake is on the side of the army,” a sombre Museveni said after visiting a hospital packed with survivors.
“They (the army) did not coordinate well but we have got a long struggle, we shall overcome. We shall win, like we have won all other previous challenges.”
Rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army armed with mortars, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades raided the Barlonyo camp on Saturday evening, shooting people who tried to flee and burning others in their homes.
Museveni said the attack, one of the bloodiest in a 17-year insurgency, “was mainly caused by the mistakes of the army commander in the area”.
In a statement to the state-owned New Vision newspaper, the president said the army had been negligent for allowing the camp to be set up in the first place, adding that it was insufficiently protected.
He said local army troops failed to notify other units until after the attack took place and the rebels had fled.
