By Henry Mukasa and Paul Watala
BUDUDA district leaders have demanded for a day of mourning to be declared and prayers to be held for the people killed in last week’s landslide.
The district had designated Sunday as a day of mourning but it has to be approved by the the Government.

“The district is discussing the matter with the Office of the Prime Minister,” said Maj. Gen. Julius Oketta, who is coordinating the operations to retrieve the bodies and supply relief for survivors.

The district’s demand received support from Parliament yesterday when it passed a resolution urging the Government to declare a day of national mourning for the people of Bududa, Kabale, Kisoro, Manafwa, Mbale, Kabarole, Butaleja and Tororo districts, who have perished in landslides and floods over the last few weeks.

Meanwhile, UN helicopters will ferry equipment to Bududa to expedite the retrieval of bodies.

The works state minister, Eng. John Byabagambi, and the commander of the engineering department in the UPDF, Brig. Sabiti, yesterday led a team of engineers and UN peace support personnel to survey the site.

Addressing journalists, Oketta said the Cabinet was discussing a proposal to construct a monument for the victims.
He said the residents were in agreement that the condition of bodies recovered necessitated a mass burial.

Since the landslide on March 2, only 92 bodies out of the missing 365 people have been recovered.

Oketta insisted that UPDF soldiers would continue searching for bodies for another week.

“You might put a grave here and leave the bodies out. We need to account for the 365 bodies,” he said.

Byabagambi said post-trauma counselling services will be extended to the soldiers.

“They are trained for such conditions but counselling has to be there. It will be done by a combined team from the health ministry and the army,” he said.

Additional reporting by Catherine Bekunda and Joyce Namutebi