Lukodi – an untold massacre

Lukodi is a small rural community, about 20 km north of Gulu, along a dirt track that means it takes a good 45 mins to drive there.

In 2004 it was the site of a massive IDP camp for internally displaced people who were fleeing from the Lords Resistance Army. These people had been told that they would be safe at the camp, which composed hundreds and hundreds of mud-huts all packed tightly together, and with a battalion of Uganda soldiers at the centre to ‘protect’ them.

On the 19^th May 2004, a young lad who had been abducted from home and was now serving as a child soldier for the LRA entered Lukodi pretending that he had escaped from the LRA and was returning home. Word got out, and many people came out to greet him and celebrate the return of one of their own.

Unfortunately it was a trap!

At the same time as the lad was pretending to be the returning son, three groups of highly armed LRA rebels were positioning themselves around the IDP camp, and a fourth one was on its way to a nearby fort of Uganda soldiers so as to prevent them from coming and helping protect Lukodi.

As darkness fell, the LRA attacked from all sides. Bayonets, guns, grenades, fire – all were used to attack the IDP camp, and the soldiers who were in the centre found themselves trapped and unable to assist.

Families were herded into huts that were then burned to the ground, anyone fleeing was shot on sight – by nightfall the stench of death was everywhere.

The next day those who had managed to escape tentatively returned to bury the dead – but no one stayed for long, for fear of the LRA rebels coming back to finish what they had started.

Today, we visited the site of the Lukodi massacre. A simple stone cross marks the spot that was the centre of the camp where the killings took place, and we heard from Kennedy, one of those who survived the massacre and now serves on the local community committee. He told the story quietly, matter-of-factly, and without judgment. It was painful to listen to, as it always is; indeed I hope that listening to stories of mans acts of total inhumanity against each other will never stop being painful.

Kennedy finished by making one plea – that we tell the story of Lukodi to others, so that all those deaths will not be in vain but will help to remind people that wars are never good, never the right answer, and that we should all do what we can to pursue peace wherever we are.

So this is what I am doing – telling the story. Sadly I know that massacres like Lukodi continue to take place, and it seems that humankind will never learn, but that is no reason to not try and make a difference, and in honour of all those who died on the 18^th May 2004, in a rural part on northern Uganda – I’m certainly going to do my best.