DATE=9/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UGANDA FIGHTING (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253813
BYLINE=JENNIFER WIENS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Hundreds of people are dead in Uganda after
three-days of ethnic clashes. As Jennifer Wiens
reports from our East Africa Bureau, the attack was by
the Bokora tribe against members of the Matheniko
tribe.
TEXT: Cattle and revenge were the motives for the
attack by Bokora clan warriors on a village belonging
to the rival Matheniko clan in northeast Uganda.
Bokora fighters swept into the Matheniko village of
Apule at dawn Thursday, killing about 400-people and
stealing more than two-thousand head of cattle.
The raid on Apule, 250-kilometers east of the capital,
Kampala, lasted until Saturday, when the Ugandan army
stepped in to halt the fighting.
Eyewitnesses say most of those killed in the attack
were women, children, and the elderly. Many of the
victims were wounded or killed and then dumped in the
bushes around the village. A rescue operation by the
World Lutheran Federation managed to collect some
injured children and take them to a hospital.
This attack is the latest in a series of raids and
reprisals between rival clans in Uganda's Karamojo
region. Cattle rustling is a long standing tradition
among Uganda's pastoral tribes. But the cattle raids
during the past few months have grown more deadly.
In July, Matheniko fighters raided some Bokara
settlements, slaughtering 140-people. Also in July,
warriors of the Jie ethnic group attacked an Ugandan
army unit that was trying to recover stolen cattle in
the Karamoja area -- 14 soldiers died and 12 others
were injured.
Those incidents prompted the deployment of about four-
thousand Ugandan army troops in the region to try to
stop the clashes and help guard the livestock of the
various clans.
This latest attack in Apule was finally stopped when
the Ugandan army arrived and used helicopter gunships
to control the area.
The intervention has caused some controversy. The
independent "Monitor" newspaper reported that some
survivors from the raid say bombs from army
helicopters killed many people. The Ugandan army has
declined comment on the accusation. (SIGNED)
NEB/JW/GE/RAE
13-Sep-1999 12:08 PM LOC (13-Sep-1999 1608 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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