Survivors tell their recovery journey after 1995 Atiak massacre

President Museveni lays a wreath on the Atiak Massacre Monument during the 17th anniversary of the massacre in Atiak, Amuru District in 2012 . PPU PHOTO

What you need to know:

Moving on. On April 20, 1995, Vincent Otti commanded LRA rebels who massacred more than 300 people in his birthplace, Atiak. Survivors of the massacre talked to Sunday Monitor’s Julius Ocungi and Josline Adiru about their ordeal and their efforts to recover from the traumatic incident

Time heals, the English say. But it heals only wounds; the scars remain. On April 20, 1995 the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels of Joseph Kony raided Atiak Trading Centre in Amuru District and killed more than 300 people.

Looking at the site of that bloodbath today, many things have changed. A new vibrant town boasting diverse businesses has emerged from the ruins of that heinous attack.

The formerly gravel road that looked like a cattle track is now a tarmac highway that splits the sprawling town into two.

Locals freely go about their businesses and farmers tend to their gardens and leave at their convenience.

Generally, the wounds have healed, but the scars have remained. Sunday Monitor had the occasion to talk to the survivors and they narrated how they are reconstructing their lives from the pangs to progress

Last week, Ms Betty Acan, one of the survivors and a single mother of four, narrated to Sunday Monitor an eyewitness account of what happened on that fateful day.

Her unwavering strength in recounting the ordeal and her near-death survival is awesome.
But the precision of her memory is of unrivalled proportions.

“Thursday, April 1995 is fresh in my mind. At about 4am in the morning, while my siblings and I were sleeping, we heard random gunshots in the area. In a few minutes, we heard someone knock on the door ordering us to open,” recounts Ms Acan.

She says they feared to open, but the stranger threatened to lob grenades into their hut.
They succumbed and opened. The tragedy began. Ms Acan was aged 15 at the time. She is now 38.

“We were unfamiliar with what was going on around. But as we opened the door, we saw men dressed in army uniforms who had surrounded our home. We knew they were rebels because of their behaviour,” says Ms Acan.

“While some of the rebels were looting shops in the villages, I was abducted with my child and two siblings and taken nine kilometers out of Atiak Trading Centre to Loka-Kitang village with other abductees,” Ms Acan adds.

She and other abductees were assembled at one place and the LRA commander Vincent Otti ordered that children below eleven years, expectant mothers and women with young children be separated from the rest.

“We didn’t know the motives behind separating us from others. I was scared of death because Otti was talking of teaching the locals of Atiak a lesson they would never forget,” says Ms Acan.

Otti ordered that expectant mothers and mothers with young children be spared while other abductees who had been surrounded should be killed on the spot.

Coping after the tragedy

Ms Betty Acan (L) and other members of Atiak Massacre Association audit accounts of their Sacco recently. Photo BY JULIUS OCUNGI

“In a span of a few minutes, the rebels opened fire indiscriminately on about 300 abductees. I saw my brother and sister being shot and how they struggled and wailed in pain. After the killings, Otti told us to clap our hands for what the rebels had done,” adds Ms Acan.

After the massacre, Otti ordered the release of the pregnant women and women with young children.
Acan’s brother and sister had been the bread winners in the family. She was emotionally shuttered. Her guardians were gone.

“Life was never the same; I could not afford to fend for my other two siblings and my child since I was now the only source of livelihood in the home,” she says.

Ms Acan relocated to the capital Kampala to stay with a relative. It helped her in minimising memories of the tragedy.

“Relocating to another part of the country was a healing process and when I clocked 17, I got another man whom I settled with and we had three children,” she says.

However, the marriage later failed and Ms Acan returned to Atiak in 2010.

Reintegrating with the community

Ms Acan in her bar in Atiak Trading Centre, where she earns a living. PHOTO BY JULIUS OCUNGI


On setting foot back in Atiak after several years away, the old memories and trauma returned. But other residents had put the tragedy behind and moved on.

Ms Acan virtually had nothing to start from. She had no home nor a job or business to earn a living.
She joined local women groups where she received counselling through sharing experiences with others. They formed Atiak Massacre Association which they turned into a savings group.

“I have moved on and forgiven the perpetuators. In 2013, our association got a donation of Shs50m from President Museveni which has transformed our lives. We are now able to pay for our children’s school fees and buy basic needs from the money we save in the Sacco,” Ms Acan explains.

She now runs a bar and has used the little proceeds from the alcohol business to start goat rearing. She used to run a public pay phone business, but it collapsed after the influx of mobile phones and people switched to using personal handsets.

“My business has taken me far. I don’t earn much profit from it but my life has been transformed. I take care of my daughter who is now in Senior One and some of my relatives. I intend to use the proceeds from the bar business to expand my livestock project,” says Ms Acan.

Ms Paska Aketto, 33, a widowed mother of three, shares a similar plight. She says the Atiak tragedy found her asleep with her mother and three of her siblings.

“We heard heavy gunshots in the trading centre and people wailing but could not come out for fear. By morning time, the gunshots had reduced and we thought the UPDF soldiers had defeated the rebels,” she recounts with despondence.

Ms Aketto was 14 years old then. She says they were shocked to discover that the rebels had instead beaten the UPDF and taken over the area.
The rebels came to their hut and ordered them out or else face a worse tragedy.

“We hurriedly moved out. My brother and uncle who were sleeping in another hut also came out after their hut was set ablaze. Seven of us from the same family were abducted by the rebels that morning and given looted items to carry,” says Ms Aketto.

She was assigned a bag of about 25kg of salt and other looted items to carry together with other abductees for more than nine kilometres to Loka Ayugi Village where they were assembled before LRA commander Otti.

“We were separated, women with children sat separately while men and young boys were stripped of their shirts. Other women too were made to sit with men. It was a matter of life and death at that time. One of the female rebels whispered to me that all the abducted people except mothers with young children, would be killed,” Aketto recalls.

Acting on this tip-off, Aketto spotted a lonely child and carried him in pretense that she was the mother child.

“My mother too carried my youngest brother but there were notable signs of danger still ahead of us,” she says.

Minutes later, Otti ordered that men, boys and women without children lie on the ground. He directed his rebels to shoot at them, blaming the people of Atiak for ignoring his warning against staying near army detaches and trading centres.

“Gunshots erupted, women, boys and men wailed as bullet tore them apart. My brother and uncle died while I watched,” says Ms Aketto and breaks down at the memory.

She says they were released to return home but her life has never been the same.
She says the trauma of seeing dead bodies forced the surviving members of the family to relocate to the main town of Gulu.

“We stayed for a year at one of my uncle’s home in Gulu Town and decided to move back to Atiak. His earnings as a teacher could not take care of five of us and his own children,” explains Ms Aketto.

“Copying with life at that moment was not easy because the LRA were still active. My siblings and I dropped out of school. At 16 years I produced my first child but the relationship did not last long,” Ms Aketto says.

Nineteen years later, Ms Aketto still suffers trauma and hallucinations of the events of that dreadful night of the massacre.
She did not receive proper psychosocial support after the tragedy.

“I am still depressed although I am trying to pick up my life,” she says.
Ms Aketto has a stall in Atiak Main Market and has also joined a local women credit and savings association.

“My children are currently in school and through the small business, I am able to fend for them,” she says.

Atiak Community Development Officer Willy Odong says there is still need for counselling therapy to the depressed community.

He called on the government and development partners to provide more counselling to the people who lost their dear ones.

The Presidential adviser in charge of Acholi Sub-region, Ms Santa Oketa, said the government has been helping the locals to recover from the trauma inflicted by the long war in the north.

“The Shs50m given last year by President Museveni might not have reached every survivor affected by the massacre. But the government has not forgotten about the people and other forms of help will be given,” she pledged.

Retired Bishop of Northern Uganda, Rev Macleod Baker Ochora, too called for psycho-therapy and a policy for special reparation for areas where mass killings occurred.

Mr Stephen Oola, the programme manager for Conflict, Transitional Justice and Governance at the Refugee Law Project, reiterated Bishop Ochora’s call for a special post-conflict policy on reparation for all the affected people.

The Refugee Law Project estimates that more than 2,000 people in northern Uganda are in dire need of immediate psychosocial support.

Some people still have bullets and bomb splinters stuck in their bodies and require urgent surgery.
The two-decade LRA conflict displaced more than 1.5 million people thousands lost their lives. Women and girls were raped while children were abducted and turned into child soldiers.
Atiak now
The trading centre is picking up gradually due to the growing lucrative cross-border trade with South Sudan. Restaurants, bars, shops, offices, and schools are spreading in the area.

The town now has a hydro-electricity drawn from the line connecting Gulu to Elegu border market in Amuru District.

The Atiak Sub-county chairperson, Mr John Bosco Ocan, says Atiak’s strategic location along the international corridor gives her opportunity to attract investors into the area.

LRA massacres

LRA commander Vincent Otti, the mastermind of the massacre, was born and grew up in Atiak. He was reportedly killed in 2007 after disagreeing with LRA leader, Joseph Kony. Photo BY AGENCIES

The Atiak massacre was just one of the various atrocities that were committed by LRA rebels during their 20-year brutal insurgency. Similar massacres took place at Barlonyo in Lira District and Mucwini in Kitgum District.

In 2002 in Omot Sub-county, Agago District, 28 people were hacked to death by LRA rebels. In 2002 in Mucwini, Sub-county in Kitgum District LRA rebels killed 56 people.

In May 2004, 54 people were massacred in Lukodi village in Bungatira Sub-county Gulu District by LRA.

Five top LRA commanders including Kony, Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen and Ruska Lukwiya were in 2005 indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in northern Uganda.

However, Otti, who hailed from Atiak, was reportedly killed in 2007 after disagreeing with his boss and LRA leader, Joseph Kony. The LRA leader ordered the execution of Otti, who had ascended to the second position in the rebel outfit, on allegations of an attempted palace coup.

The US government offered a cash bounty of $5 million to whoever provides information leading to the capture of the indicted LRA leaders who are now operating in Central African Republic.