1. 22 THE STAR, Friday February 6, 2009
VILLAGE MASSACRE HORROR AS SAVAGE REBEL
■TWO million northern Ugandans have been
forced to flee their homeland to escape torture at
the hands of a merciless group known as The Lord’s
Resistance Army.
The LRC have kidnapped, raped and brutally
butchered thousands of innocents under the
orders of religious madman Joseph Kony.
■These atrocities follow the murders
of more than 500,000 people under
two former dictatorships in the former
British colony.
Trocaire aims to reduce poverty and
social injustice by forging long-term
partnerships with local organisations and
communities.
■Star reporter Kevin Jenkinson and
photographer Noel Gavin are in
Uganda to witness the impact of
Trocaire’s 24-hour fast drive — and the
life-saving work being done with the
€3.3 million donated by Irish people for
this and last year’s work in the region.
AYUGI Sylvia was breast-feeding her tiny
newborn infant when it was cruelly taken
by a rebel soldier and swung against a wall
until it died.
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel then threw
her husband to the ground, held him down while beat-
ing him and savagely cut off his head with a machete.
He then threatened to cut off Sylvia’s head — but her
life was spared when it was decided she would be
useful for carrying equipment.
Traumatised Sylvia told The Star: “I carried their
bags for a week before the other side rescued me and
brought me back to the village.”
Tragic
Her tragic husband and child were just two of 301
people butchered by LRA troops on February 21 2004
after they defeated the 11-man Amuka militia pro-
tecting the displacement camp of Barlonyo, near Lira
in northern Uganda.
LRA soldiers overpowered the troops within min-
utes and savagely burned the camp’s inhabitants alive
in their huts — hacking any survivors to death.
When the government’s army recruits reached the
horrific scene hours later, the LRA had kidnapped
some 200 boys and women.
Sylvia used to own the land where 301 innocent vic-
tims of the carnage are buried in a mass grave. She was
promised compensation — but is still waiting.
A memo- rial now stands where the
mas
sacre occurred at the
height of LRA bru-
tality — which has
seen tens of thou-
sands of people
killed, raped
and abducted.
The LRA
uses an army
of tens
o f
CRAZED TYRANT’S REGIME BROUGHTMANY would know Idi Amin from his
portrayal by actor Forest Whitaker in hit
movie The Last King of Scotland — told
through the story of a young Scottish doc-
tor who becomes one of his advisors.
The paranoid tyrant killed more than
250,000 suspected opponents and brutally
tortured tens of thousands more.
Sewn
One of his former wives was found with
her limbs dismembered in a car boot —
and Amin had her sewn back together so
her children could see the body.
Henry Kyemba, Amin’s former health
minister, claimed he performed blood ritu-
als on his victims, ate human flesh and
kept his victims’ heads in cold storage.
The tyrant began his climb to power
when he was recruited as a trainee cook
by the British military in Uganda.
Amin was posted to Kenya as a corporal
during a British campaign, where he
gained infamy for torturing prisoners and
was then promoted to sergeant major.
He faced a court martial for murdering
three Kenyan tribesmen, but received only
a verbal warning — and continued to
climb the ranks until he was one of prime
minister Milton Obote’s top officers.
Amin eventually seized power from
Obote during a coup in 1971 and forced
him into exile in Tanzania.
Squads
Fearing retaliation, he set up death
squads to eradicate opponents and ordered
mass killings of the Langi and Acholi
tribes, who he thought supported Obote.
However, Amin had no idea how to run
an economy — and often ordered banks to
print cash when his budgets ran out.
As the economy collapsed, he expelled all
Asians in a bid to boost his popularity.
Some 50,000 left, cutting government
MASS MURDERER: Brutal killer Amin with his followers
■ By KEVIN JENKINSON
CONTROVERSY:
Villagers at the
memorial plague
which says only
102 people were
killed at
Barlonyo, but
locals insist 301
people were
slaughtered
They beat my
baby to death
and cut off my
husband’s head