Following yesterday’s assault at the main Gulu Police station by an armed group, the residents are in fear of resurgence of armed conflict in the area.
The attack which was successfully foiled by the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces working with police, came only days after another army detach in the same town was attacked by armed men.
According to Gulu’s former District Chairman Norbert Mao, the area has the highest concentration of firearms in the hands of civilians, which remains a big concern.
Despite the complete pacification of the region from the decades of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, many people have refused to surrender their guns to government.
In a statement he issued this morning, Col. Francis Ongia, a respected elder and coordinator of the UPDF’s Operation Wealth Creation in Gulu district warned his tribesmen that bloodshed is at hand and that people’s lives are at stake.
“The blood of our Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Wives and Children will be spilled, all our properties will be destroyed because war is destructive,” he warned.
This morning as local leaders spoke to residents over a local radio station about yesterday’s incident, a number of callers expressed concern that the people behind the attack are well facilitated.
“These people came in different cars, and the fact that they have such powerful machineguns, it’s clear that they are getting support from a powerful source,” one caller noted.
The UPDF Colonel in his message to the locals spelled out a number of measures that must be taken to prevent the district from sliding back to anarchy.
“We should alert all our people to be vigilant and report every strange activity in our villages without fear or favor. Any stranger in our villages must be identified immediately with all that he or she is carrying or doing in the area,” said Col Ongia.
The people behind these attacks he said are taking advantage of especially war veterans. Ongia cautioned these to resist anyone trying to mobilize them without the knowledge of the RDC.
Locals were also cautioned against over drinking and spending long nights in night clubs, which would distract them from watching out for the bad elements.
“Any disappearance of any youth or member of your families must be reported within the shortest possible time to any police post,” noted Col Ongia.
“When you see signs of smashed grass in bushes or forest around your village report it immediately to any authority around your village. If you see anybody carrying a gun at night do not talk to them but try to monitor what they are talking about and report immediately to any authority.”