allAfrica.com: Uganda [column]: Visit to the Villages of Horror: "They forced parents to smash the heads of their children against trees. The rebels then used axes and machetes to kill the parents. Sixty people died here.
But not even the wackiest alarmist could have conjured what the LRA had in store for the villagers of Geregere.
After tying up the men and herding the rest into the village centre, the rebels hacked and clubbed their victims to death. Twenty eight people were killed.
But the rebels were not through. They ordered one of the child soldiers to bring a big pot from one of the houses. A rebel commander called Otto lit a fire.
As the water boiled, they chopped off the limbs and heads of some of the bodies and tossed them into the pot."...
In the middle of the photo is a huge black pot. Sticking out of the pot is part of a human leg. There are reports that the LRA rebels forced the survivors to eat the human flesh from the pot and drink the soup. I, however, did not get any person who could confirm that...
All the displaced people I interviewed in camps in Lira, Pader and Gulu described how the LRA's extremes drove them into the camps for protection.
In a typical attack, the LRA strike shortly after dark. When operating deep in northern Uganda, they dress in civilian attire, making them virtually indistinguishable from regular citizens.
They either target a settlement like a village or go for other undefended targets like schools. In Lira district, the LRA once attacked Aboke Girls Secondary School and abducted 139 girls....
In a typical attack, the LRA strike shortly after dark. When operating deep in northern Uganda, they dress in civilian attire, making them virtually indistinguishable from regular citizens.
They either target a settlement like a village or go for other undefended targets like schools. In Lira district, the LRA once attacked Aboke Girls Secondary School and abducted 139 girls.
Once the target has been secured, the rebel commander rounds up all captives and make his selection. The rest are either shot or let loose with debilitating injuries.
Terrorising the population is not the main reason for the massacres. The attacks are accompanied by abductions. This is LRA's preferred mode of recruitment.
Boys and girls as young as six are dragged at gun point from their homes and schools at night and forced to join the rebel ranks.
A former LRA commander explained that children are easier to mould into vicious, soulless fighters than adults with more developed mindsets.
The girls double up as fighters and wives of the LRA commanders. Janet, a former captive and sex-slave of rebel leader Joseph Kony, told me that the LRA commander has taken at least 60 such girls as wives.
The training starts early. Children are methodically turned into remorseless killing machines soon after capture. Some are forced to kill their own kin.
Christine Akello, who was abducted at 12, says she watched as the rebels beat her father unconscious. The rebel commander then forced her to kill her uncle or she would be killed as well. She had to beat him to death. It was the first of her many killings in the seven years she served as an LRA fighter.
Patrick Oneka described how he was forced to kill his little brother, Joseph, because the boy could not keep up with the pace and had tried to escape.
In an emotionless tone, Patrick recounted how he was handed an axe and forced to split the head of the boy he was supposed to protect.
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And George Opiyo, then 12, recalled how he was ordered to kill his father. The boy at first refused.
The rebels then untied Opiyo's father and ordered him to kill the son. Terrified, George screamed that he would kill his father. He was given a rifle, and he shot his father dead.
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