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MPs fault army, police over Kasese school attack
Uganda policemen are seen at the premises of an attack in Mpondwe, Uganda, on June 18, 2023 at the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- In a showdown in the House, legislators yesterday shot down Defence Minister Vincent Ssempijja’s account that security response to the June 16 raid on Lhubiriha SS was immediate, submitting instead that the army and police ignored distress calls as assailants killed students.
A disturbing twist to last Friday’s terrorist attack on a school in Kasese has emerged in Parliament, with area Members of Parliament (MPs) revealing how military and police units deployed nearby were fully aware of the attack but took their time before responding.
There was a sense of outrage in the House as the MPs narrated how the security forces stayed put, ignoring distress calls from and around Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School.
Defence minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja had presented a statement, claiming that when the “weak ADF” attacked the school, security forces responded within 30 minutes.
That claim was quickly shot down. Legislators from Kasese stunned colleagues with accounts of how soldiers only arrived at the scene more than an hour after the attack had ended -- and with the suspected ADF terrorists long gone.
Within that hour the terrorists had butchered 37 students, shot dead the school watchman, set two dormitories on fire with wailing students still alive inside and bludgeoned four residents to death.
Speaker Anita Among dismissed the minister, directing him to return with a proper statement showing details of government’s response, the fate of those captured, particulars of the dead and injured.
Ms Among also asked that the government pays all hospital bills.
The Defence minister had nowhere to hide as Ms Florence Kabugho (Kasese Woman MP) exposed the security failures.
She said the terrorists spent more than an hour hacking the students dead before descending on the neighbouring trading centre.
About a kilometre away, soldiers remained inside their detachment and police officers at a nearby post reportedly turned a witness away who had rushed to call for help.
“The minister has just told us that the attack took place at around 11pm …. He and everyone is aware that these rebels came, took their time to kill the students who were making noise and shouting that ‘we are being killed’,” she said.
“One student called Nkato managed to escape and ran to a police station which is 800 metres away from the school and reported that, ‘unidentified people have come to our school and are killing people’ but the police did not respond,” she added.
Ms Kabugho said survivors have revealed that the attackers even took time to check if all their victims were dead before setting the bodies on fire.
“They did not stop there. They moved to the nearest trading centre and attacked the place. They broke into shops and looted everything and went away without being intercepted. Where were the security forces all this time?” she asked.
Mr Harold Tonny Muhindo (Bukonzo East) told the House how the laxity of the security forces led to the massacre.
“While the rebels were advancing to the school, they met a boda boda rider and tried to shoot him. They shot two bullets at him, he left the motorcycle and ran to police and reported that he had met attackers, but the police at the Customs police post told him to go and report at the
Mpondwe police post. How can a civilian who has reported to police be again asked to report to another police station?” he asked.
“And these UPDF soldiers at the detach less than a kilometre away did not come to rescue the children as the rebels walked away,” he said.
Mr Ferigo Kambale (Kasese Municipality) said soldiers deployed nearby did not act promptly, which explains why other units deployed across the border in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tried to respond.
“What happened on the ground that day was terrible… our students cried for help for a long time... Our students were butchered; killed and slaughtered like goats which took more than an hour,” he said.
Before he was stopped in his tracks, the Defence minister had claimed that three days after the attack, on June 19, a pursuing UPDF force located and engaged the attackers.
“UPDF forces pursued the attackers southwards to River Lhubiriha, around 3km from the scene of crime on June 19, at around 2:30pm towards the confluence of rivers Semuliki and Taliha in DRC.
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The attackers who had made a hasty defensive position were attacked by a UPDF mobile squad where three enemies were killed, one submachine gun captured, one woman and three children rescued,” he said.
This is the first time any mention is being made of a purported engagement between UPDF troops and the suspected attackers.
Mr Ssempijja said investigations “to establish and get answers to some pertinent questions which everyone, including you, is asking” are ongoing.
“Why didn’t people, both security and civilians see them? Why was there no identification or suspicion of new/strange faces? All these will be answered by the investigation’s findings. We have already removed the logs, but we now need to remove the ash,” he said.
