Fields lay idle as LRA slayings continue around Yambio

May 8, 2009 (LONDON) — Forces of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are suspected in the death of three men in separate incidents over just two days, as refugees continue to shelter in Yambio town, the capital of Western Equatoria State (WES).

The first attack occurred early Thursday at dawn at Nayure near Yambio-Sakure road, leaving Raphael Wasiro dead at his homestead. He was shot in the neck before being beaten in the head with machetes and wooden clubs. The body of late Mr. Wasiro has now been recovered to Yambio where there is was mourning Thursday and burial Friday, according to a witness.

Also on Thursday around 6 pm, a man called Isaac was killed when he tried to go and check on his deserted house in Bureangburu village. It is a village from which many people had fled when LRA attacked last on Tuesday, abducting a man and his wife though losing one LRA when chased by local defenders. The man’s family, said to number up to ten, had not all fled together to Yambio but were hiding in nearby bushes.

Apparently he was attempting to return to check on his chickens so that he could lock them in their hatch, when he was ambushed by LRA rebels who had taken positions around his house. He was attacked and shot dead immediately. His body was recovered to Yambio this morning and relatives gathered for mourning him in Malakia residential area.

In another attack blamed on the LRA, a teacher at Lutheran Primary School named Mr. Kazimiro was also killed in Bawoyo village which about 8 miles from Yambio. His body has been recovered and brought to Yambio and he is being mourned in the ECS residential area of Tiimbiro.

“In other cases a lot of people have told stories also how they evaded deaths at the hands of LRA and they had to flee to Yambio for safety,” said Charles Kisanga, a leader of the region’s Azande community living in the United Kingdom.

Citing a source in one local defense group, which are known as “arrow boys,” Kisanga said that LRA were not only making such attacks in villages but have also adopted a calculated policy meant to disrupt Azande life as well as life in the whole of Western Equatoria. “Abandoned cultivation fields in the deserted villages have been destroyed by LRA rebels all over. They seem to go into the villages and plug away all the cultivated maize, groundnuts and pumpkins among some of the best stable food for citizens of Western Equatoria state,” he said.

The WES minister of local government and law enforcement, Col. Samuel Bati, told Kisanga on Friday evening that “things are very bad and grave all over WES,” voicing fear that many more unreported deaths are occurring in distant villages at the hands of LRA. He reported that LRA activities had intensified all the way to Tambura town along the border areas facing DR Congo.

Western Equatoria never developed large militias to the extent seen in some other southern states, which means that the current local defence groups are inadequately equipped to hunt the LRA guerrillas. Col. Bati said that he had mobilized hundreds of “arrow boys” for the defence of people and villages but nobody provided them with guns and ammunition. The local official noted additionally the need for training and logistics support.

Thus Kisanga appealed to Uganda and neighbouring Central Equatoria State to send arms and ammunition to the forces. “Here I’m appealing personally to Governor Clement Wani as a former friend,” said the Azande leader.

Vowing to soon head to Yambio to rally political will to wage war against the LRA, Kisanga also appealed also to the international NGOs to bring in relief supplies such as tents, blankets, food items and medicines for the displaced who continued to stream to the main towns in Western Equatoria and are all sleeping in the open.

(ST)