UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
ACHOLILAND
Post-1986 Conflicts
After Yoweri Museveni’s take-over, the northern region, particularly Acholiland,
was plunged into conflict and violence. In effect, the war that was fought in the
Luwero Triangle did not stop but continued, albeit in a different location and with
a rebel group turned national army. When the NRA crossed the river Nile, a range
of insurgent groups emerged, including the Uganda People’s Democratic Army,
the Holy Spirit Mobile Forces and, most notoriously, the Lord’s Resistance Army.
56. NRA/UPDF war against citizens in the North (1986 - 2006)
When the National Resistance Army (NRA) captured state power from Tito Okello Lutwa
in 1986, they embarked on what the participants described as ‘a war on the citizens
in northern Uganda’ as a way of seeking vengeance over alleged atrocities committed
by the former Northerner-led Governments
(the regimes of Tito Okello and Milton
Obote). Participants described how NRA
commanders such as the late Colonel
Reuben Ikondere ordered the killing
and torture of significant numbers
of civilians and former soldiers
in Kitgum District (for example,
in Palabek Kal and Namukora
sub-counties). 306 The NRA’s
Operation Fagia (meaning “to
sweep”), led by General Salim
Saleh, half-brother to the
President, began in 1988 with
an ultimatum to the civilian
population in Gulu District to
leave their villages. They were
ordered to move to camps in Sir
Samuel Baker School, Pece Division,
Gulu Municipality and Bungatira
sub-county within 48 hours. This would
become the site of the first encampment in
Acholiland commanded by the NRA/M Government.
Participants recounted that before the 24 hours elapsed, the NRA started torturing and
killing civilians as they ran to the designated camps. According to an eyewitness, NRA
soldiers threw bombs on villages that they suspected would not heed the ultimatum to
relocate to the camps in 1988. 307
306 Research conducted in Kitgum District
307 Supra note 67
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