Almost 200 refugees killed at Ugandan camp

Published on 23/02/2004 00:00

UGANDAN rebels have attacked a refugee camp and killed almost 200 people in one of the bloodiest massacres of the African country’s 18-year civil war.

Members of the Lord’s Resistance Army attacked the Barlonyo camp, 26km north of Lira, in the Acholi tribal heartland, on Saturday, shooting people as they fled and burning others alive in their huts. "It’s a hopeless situation. We went there this morning with the district police commander and physically counted 192 bodies," local legislator Charles Anjiro said yesterday. "It’s the worst situation I’ve seen in my life."

The camp was home to about 5,000 people, some of more than one million who have become internal refugees after fleeing the fighting in the country. The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, who claims to have spiritual powers.An estimated 20,000 Acholi children have been snatched by Kony since the mid-1980s and sent to training camps in Sudan where they have been transformed into one of Africa’s most brutal armies. The massacre came less than three weeks after another LRA raid in the area in which more than 40 villagers were killed.

"The rebels came with sophisticated guns and grenades. When they arrived at the camp at 5:30pm, they approached it from three fronts - from the north, east and south and left the western side for their exit," Mr Anjiro said. "They bombed the camp and overpowered the local defence forces and then started burning the huts."An army spokesman said government forces were pursuing the rebels.