Langi join anti-Kony uprising
Aug 10, 2003
Faced with LRA rebel menace, Teso and Lango region leaders have teamed up and resolved to mobilise their youth to join hands with the UPDF to fight the common enemy
By Nathan Etengu
in Lira
Faced with LRA rebel menace, Teso and Lango region leaders have teamed up and resolved to mobilise their youth to join hands with the UPDF to fight the common enemy.
Teso leaders led by state minister for health Capt Mike Mukula on Wednesday travelled to Lira to launch the 4,000-strong Amuka (rhino) defence unit voluntary force modelled along the Teso-based Arrow Group to fight the rebels of Joseph Kony.
The launching ceremony at the Uganda Technical College, Lira, was blessed by the paramount chief of Lango, Mr. Yosam Odur who received the first gun given by the UPDF to the Rhino defence unit.
There was jubilation at the launching ceremony when Odur held the gun with the magazine facing up and declared that the war against the rebels had finally been launched with the blessing and total commitment of the leadership in the Lango region.
Odur levelled the gun against the unseen enemy and told the Langi: “Time has finally come for us to defend our land against the rebels.â€
More than 500 local leaders who included the state minister for children affairs, Mr. Felix Okot Ogong and MPs John Eresu (Kaberamaido), Samson Anyolo (Soroti), Alex Okot (Moroto), the Teso Arrow Group coordinator, Musa Ecweru, Kaberamaido LC5 chairman, Victor Ekesu and Lira RDC, Charles Egou-Engwau, together with other local leaders from the Lango region attended the ceremony.
“I am saying that give the guns now and ensure that our boys who have offered to fight for peace in the sub-region are not taken away as was the case with previous recruitment,†Odur said.
He drew applause when he wielded his gun and charged at an imaginary enemy.
Odur said the method used by Government to pursue the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels right into the Democratic Republic of Congo should be used to eliminate the rebels.
“If the Government could go that far to get the ADF rebels, the same method should be used to end the LRA rebellion in northern and north-eastern Uganda,†Odur said.
Mukula said the rebels had used Lango region to launch attacks on Teso soil. He said the rebels had found safe havens in Omoro, Orum from where they plan attacks on Katakwi and Kaberamaido districts.
“We in the Teso region have shown rebel leader Joseph Kony that he has no monopoly of violence,†Mukula said.
He said the rebels should not flourish in the Lango region as though they were invited by the community to cause instability in the area. He said the Government was committed to giving as many arms as possible to able bodied persons to fight the rebels. He said the arms given to fight the rebels would also be used to enforce the disarmament in the Karamoja region.
Mukula appealed to the politicians in the Lango region to put aside their differences and focus on the common enemy.
Ecweru said that some of the girls abducted by the rebels from the Lango region had been turned into sex slaves.
He also said that rebels were using some of the traders to sell goods looted during highway robberies on the Karuma-Pakwach road.
Okot Ogong said the Government was committed to ending the insurgency.
in Lira
Faced with LRA rebel menace, Teso and Lango region leaders have teamed up and resolved to mobilise their youth to join hands with the UPDF to fight the common enemy.
Teso leaders led by state minister for health Capt Mike Mukula on Wednesday travelled to Lira to launch the 4,000-strong Amuka (rhino) defence unit voluntary force modelled along the Teso-based Arrow Group to fight the rebels of Joseph Kony.
The launching ceremony at the Uganda Technical College, Lira, was blessed by the paramount chief of Lango, Mr. Yosam Odur who received the first gun given by the UPDF to the Rhino defence unit.
There was jubilation at the launching ceremony when Odur held the gun with the magazine facing up and declared that the war against the rebels had finally been launched with the blessing and total commitment of the leadership in the Lango region.
Odur levelled the gun against the unseen enemy and told the Langi: “Time has finally come for us to defend our land against the rebels.â€
More than 500 local leaders who included the state minister for children affairs, Mr. Felix Okot Ogong and MPs John Eresu (Kaberamaido), Samson Anyolo (Soroti), Alex Okot (Moroto), the Teso Arrow Group coordinator, Musa Ecweru, Kaberamaido LC5 chairman, Victor Ekesu and Lira RDC, Charles Egou-Engwau, together with other local leaders from the Lango region attended the ceremony.
“I am saying that give the guns now and ensure that our boys who have offered to fight for peace in the sub-region are not taken away as was the case with previous recruitment,†Odur said.
He drew applause when he wielded his gun and charged at an imaginary enemy.
Odur said the method used by Government to pursue the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels right into the Democratic Republic of Congo should be used to eliminate the rebels.
“If the Government could go that far to get the ADF rebels, the same method should be used to end the LRA rebellion in northern and north-eastern Uganda,†Odur said.
Mukula said the rebels had used Lango region to launch attacks on Teso soil. He said the rebels had found safe havens in Omoro, Orum from where they plan attacks on Katakwi and Kaberamaido districts.
“We in the Teso region have shown rebel leader Joseph Kony that he has no monopoly of violence,†Mukula said.
He said the rebels should not flourish in the Lango region as though they were invited by the community to cause instability in the area. He said the Government was committed to giving as many arms as possible to able bodied persons to fight the rebels. He said the arms given to fight the rebels would also be used to enforce the disarmament in the Karamoja region.
Mukula appealed to the politicians in the Lango region to put aside their differences and focus on the common enemy.
Ecweru said that some of the girls abducted by the rebels from the Lango region had been turned into sex slaves.
He also said that rebels were using some of the traders to sell goods looted during highway robberies on the Karuma-Pakwach road.
Okot Ogong said the Government was committed to ending the insurgency.