Leaders want LRA massacre sites turned into tourist centres

Northern Ugandan authorities want massacre sites where the Lord’s Resistance Army-LRA murdered people converted into tourism attractions.

The LRA and certain government troops killed civilians they accused of being collaborators and buried them in mass graves during the region’s two-decade-long armed war, which lasted from 1986 to 2006.

Lukodi hamlet in Gulu district, where the LRA massacred 60 people on May 19, 2004, Barlonyo in Lira district, Abiya in Alebtong district, and Abok in Oyam district are among the recorded massacre locations.

Other killings occurred in the Pajule Pader district, Agago district’s Omot, Omoro district’s Odek, and Amuru district’s Amuru area.

The monuments, according to rights campaigner Robert Larubi, can assist future generations learn about peace and reconciliation processes, but they are now under-maintained and exposed to severe weather, which erodes them.

Victor Ocen, a United Nations-UN Ambassador for Peace and Justice and founder of the African Youth Initiative Network-AYNET in Lira region, claims that his brother vanished during the LRA battle, but the family is unsure if he is alive or dead.

Kilak South MP Gilbert Olanya believes that recording the history of both LRA and government crimes in Northern Uganda is a worthy project that all authorities in the region should support in order to assist families heal from their grief.

Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, the former Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, advocated for the development of the massacre site during a recent visit to Lira area during memorial prayers in Barlonyo in Lira region, where over 300 people were slaughtered by the LRA on February 21, 2004.

However, Samuel Odung, a retired teacher and historian who represents the Elders of Gulu City Council, disagrees, claiming that it will haunt families who have lost loved ones.

The Refugee Law Project (RLP) now manages the National Memory and Peace Documentation Centre-NMPDC in Kitgum district, which preserves, archives, and transmits recollections of conflict-related events, as well as experiences of previous human rights abuses and violent legacies.

The institution, which is also known as Uganda’s History Clinic, is a living monument to the victims and survivors of war, armed conflicts, and egregious human rights violations, as well as a venue to promote and celebrate Uganda’s legacy.