The tragedy of Lopuyo
Nov 28, 2006
On October 29, a disarmament operation in Kotido went terribly wrong. Two days of clashes between Karimojong warriors and the army in Lopuyo, a village 20km from Kotido, left 20 soldiers dead, including the famous Major Rwashande. A total of 48 civilians and warriors lost their lives, while 24 are s
On October 29, a disarmament operation in Kotido went terribly wrong. Two days of clashes between Karimojong warriors and the army in Lopuyo, a village 20km from Kotido, left 20 soldiers dead, including the famous Major Rwashande. A total of 48 civilians and warriors lost their lives, while 24 are still missing. For the first time, the commanding officer of the operation, Capt. Badru Lumumba, tells his side of the story...
we left in the early morning of October 29 for our normal cordon-and-search operation. We had been doing such operations before and we recovered very many guns. We did not expect any problems.
We were 229 foot soldiers. We reached the place at around 4.30am. There was a party going on and people were dancing. We started surrounding the manyatas. I told our soldiers to wait until dawn, when there was light.
“At 6.00am, the dancing stopped. Suddenly, we saw some warriors with guns coming towards our deployment. I ordered them to put down their guns but they just walked back into their manyatas. I called out that we were UPDF and that we did not want to fight. I asked them to come out with their guns. After a short while, we heard a gun shot at the eastern side of the manyatas. Second Lieutenant Otim told me by radio that one soldier, Cpl. Abdulla Muteguya, was dead. I rushed to the place where he was lying. He was shot in the stomach.
“I continued calling: “No, no! We are UPDF. We don’t want to fight. Put down your guns.†After a short while, a second shot was heard from the southern side. Another soldier, Pte Bulya, had been killed. When I tried to reach his location, the bullets started coming from everywhere.
We were not only attacked from inside the manyatas but also from the back. We started exchanging fire.
“At that moment, our commander, Maj. Khan Rwashande, arrived in his car. I informed him about the two soldiers who had died. When we reached the scene, we found his gun had been taken. The major ordered me to go to some neighbouring manyatas and search for weapons. There were women inside the huts. I sent them to where the major was.
“The fire worsened. The warriors had brought in more reinforcement. We fought up to 10.00am. That is when the Major was shot. He was hit in the left thigh by somebody in the outer ring. I organised his evacuation to Kotido. A mamba (armoured vehicle) pulled him out. On the way, they found several ambushes. By that time we had already lost five soldiers.
We fought up to midday. The warriors had AK 47 guns and there was sound of G2 and G3 machine guns. Their numbers had now overpowered us. I decided to pull out and build a box formation, so as to have eye contact with each other.
“By that time, the number of the dead had risen to 16. Another 14 wounded were evacuated. On their side, there were 12 bodies lying outside. Some manyatas were burning. We continued fighting until about 4.00pm, when we received reinforcement. Three infantry fighting vehicles, a mamba and a buffalo moved in. They had been withdrawn from another operation.
That is when the warriors retreated. We went in search of the missing soldiers and collected the bodies. It was getting dark. Because of the risk of ambushes, we decided to stay there overnight.
“The warriors kept coming back, firing at us throughout the night. In the morning, we released the women and children who were in our ring.
They were about 50. Then we started withdrawing in box formation. We only recovered two guns from the warriors but lost 14.
On the way, we fought five ambushes. It took us seven hours to reach Kotido. Of the 14 casualties, four died later in the hospital.
The Major, too, succumbed to the wounds. He died on October 29 at 1:00pm in Kanawat Health Centre.â€
we left in the early morning of October 29 for our normal cordon-and-search operation. We had been doing such operations before and we recovered very many guns. We did not expect any problems.
We were 229 foot soldiers. We reached the place at around 4.30am. There was a party going on and people were dancing. We started surrounding the manyatas. I told our soldiers to wait until dawn, when there was light.
“At 6.00am, the dancing stopped. Suddenly, we saw some warriors with guns coming towards our deployment. I ordered them to put down their guns but they just walked back into their manyatas. I called out that we were UPDF and that we did not want to fight. I asked them to come out with their guns. After a short while, we heard a gun shot at the eastern side of the manyatas. Second Lieutenant Otim told me by radio that one soldier, Cpl. Abdulla Muteguya, was dead. I rushed to the place where he was lying. He was shot in the stomach.
“I continued calling: “No, no! We are UPDF. We don’t want to fight. Put down your guns.†After a short while, a second shot was heard from the southern side. Another soldier, Pte Bulya, had been killed. When I tried to reach his location, the bullets started coming from everywhere.
We were not only attacked from inside the manyatas but also from the back. We started exchanging fire.
“At that moment, our commander, Maj. Khan Rwashande, arrived in his car. I informed him about the two soldiers who had died. When we reached the scene, we found his gun had been taken. The major ordered me to go to some neighbouring manyatas and search for weapons. There were women inside the huts. I sent them to where the major was.
“The fire worsened. The warriors had brought in more reinforcement. We fought up to 10.00am. That is when the Major was shot. He was hit in the left thigh by somebody in the outer ring. I organised his evacuation to Kotido. A mamba (armoured vehicle) pulled him out. On the way, they found several ambushes. By that time we had already lost five soldiers.
We fought up to midday. The warriors had AK 47 guns and there was sound of G2 and G3 machine guns. Their numbers had now overpowered us. I decided to pull out and build a box formation, so as to have eye contact with each other.
“By that time, the number of the dead had risen to 16. Another 14 wounded were evacuated. On their side, there were 12 bodies lying outside. Some manyatas were burning. We continued fighting until about 4.00pm, when we received reinforcement. Three infantry fighting vehicles, a mamba and a buffalo moved in. They had been withdrawn from another operation.
That is when the warriors retreated. We went in search of the missing soldiers and collected the bodies. It was getting dark. Because of the risk of ambushes, we decided to stay there overnight.
“The warriors kept coming back, firing at us throughout the night. In the morning, we released the women and children who were in our ring.
They were about 50. Then we started withdrawing in box formation. We only recovered two guns from the warriors but lost 14.
On the way, we fought five ambushes. It took us seven hours to reach Kotido. Of the 14 casualties, four died later in the hospital.
The Major, too, succumbed to the wounds. He died on October 29 at 1:00pm in Kanawat Health Centre.â€