The Barlonyo Memorial Site is also known as Barlonyo Monument or Barlonyo Massacre site [1] is a mass grave where the 301 civilian [2] [3] who were massacred by the Lord Resistance Army on 2004-02-21 were buried. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] The monument was raised in memory of the people who were man slaughtered. [9] [10]
The Barlonyo Monument is located at the Barlonyo refugee camp in Barlonyo village, Orit parish, current Agweng sub county found in Lira district. [2] [11] [12] [13] [10] The Barlonyo memorial site is 26 km Northern part of Lira district in Northern Uganda. [14] [15] [16] [6] It is neighboring River Moroto. [10] [17]
On 21st February 2004 at around 17:00hrs, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels commanded by Okot Odiambo and Dominic Ongwen [14] [18] [17] attacked the Barlonyo refugee camp were internally displaced people were living and indiscriminately mass slaughtered 300 people. [19] [1] [2] [15] [16] [12] [20] [21] [22] The LRA rebels disguised in military uniforms similar to that of Amuka Aulliary force who were the tasked force to guard the camp, consisted of Langi men who assisted the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) to execute their duties. [15] [10] At the time of attack, 11,643 people were being housed at the Barlonyo refugee camp. [3] [9]
The LRA rebels spent three days at the camp killing, and abducting people; pregnant women were forcibly dissected and their babies removed from the berry and burnt. [2] [9] Some people were burnt to death, while others were hacked with machetes, stabbed with knives, clubbed with sticks and shot. [14]
The LRA rebels also abducted 206 people [3] [9] [23] of which 29 children from the refugee camp. However, nine children were able to escape and return home. [15]
The 301 people who were killed by LRA were buried in a mass grave estimated to be 200 meter long, on a funeral function which was presided over by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the president of Uganda. [10]
There are various information concerning the total number of people mass slaughtered during the attack, the government of Uganda reported a total of 124 people killed [15] [24] which deviates from the 300 people reported to be killed by the district officials, aid workers and the local residents of Barlonyo [15] [4] [7] [25] [26] [27]
The government of Uganda constructed Barlonyo Memorial vocational training school worth UGX 100 million to remember those who were mass slaughtered on February 21, 2004, and to empower disadvantaged children acquire life skills and accumulate wealth. [2] [18] [10]
The Uganda government as also constructed facilities like Lira-Pader-Kitgum Highway which is 10km long, water sources like boreholes and other solar powered facilities, Kaguta bridge which connect Lira to Pader, Otuke and Alebtong district. [10]
The commemoration of the Barlonyo massacre is annually celebrated on February 21 to remember the lives which were man slaughtered on 2014-02-21. [8] [10] [25] [28]
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is a conflict involving the Lord's Resistance Army against the government of Uganda. Following the Ugandan Civil War, militant Joseph Kony formed the Lord's Resistance Army and launched an insurgency against the newly installed President Yoweri Museveni. The stated goal was to establish a Christian state based on the Ten Commandments. Currently, there is low-level LRA activity in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Kony proclaims himself the 'spokesperson' of God and a spirit medium.
Barlonyo is a village in northern Uganda near Lira town, where a number of internally displaced people (IDPs) from parts of northern Uganda lived, as a result of a 20-year LRA insurgency. It is located in Orit Parish, at the North -eastern end of Ogur sub-county in Lira District. It is a 45-minute drive from Lira town. Ironically it is now a field of graves, making it a tourist attraction site. What catches the eye is the v-shaped, 70 meter long grave on which residents of Barlonyo are often seen seated, eating or washing their clothes - or even drinking potent gin.
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The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against President Yoweri Museveni during which Joseph Rao Kony founded the LRA in 1987.
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