On the evening of June 16, local time, students at Lubi Lila Middle School on Uganda's western border sang gospel songs.
This is the custom at the Lubi Lila School, where boarding students always sing before bedtime and are used to it by the surrounding residents. But at about 10 p.m. that night, a noise suddenly interrupted the students' singing.
"At first, my daughter and I thought it was just the students having fun." Mary Masika, who lives across the street from the school, told the BBC, but then she heard the constant screams of pupils.
According to the Associated Press, the Ugandan military said that that night the Ugandan rebel "Democratic Allied Army" attacked the Lubi Lila Middle School in the western border town of Mpendwe, and also set fire to a dormitory, killing more than 40 students and abducting several other students by the Democratic Alliance Army.
The entire attack lasted about 90 minutes, and residents around the school were also terrified by the attack. "Since that day, I can't eat or sleep." Masika said.
The attack killed more than 40 people
From the traces left at the scene, you can also vaguely identify the experience of Lubi Lila Middle School that night. The roof was blackened by smoke, there was a lot of dried blood outside the dormitory, and the floor was covered with ash.
In an attack on the night of June 16, local time, the Democratic Alliance set fire to a dormitory at the school and looted a food storage room. The private Ugandan television station NTV reported the death toll at 41, while Uganda's state-run New View newspaper said the death toll had risen to 42.
Felix Kulayigye, a spokesman for Uganda's Ministry of Defence, said soldiers from a brigade near the school were the first to respond to the attack the night of the attack, arriving at the scene when the school was on fire and many students had died. There are 62 students in the school, most of whom are students. Some were killed by machete attacks, while others were burned to death in their dormitories.
Some of the bodies were so badly burned and damaged that they were so unrecognizable that DNA testing was required to confirm their identity. Quite a few families are still waiting for further news.
On June 18, 2023, local time, Mpendewe, Uganda, mourners gathered at a funeral held in a border town. Photo/Visual China
Hurubana Kimadi Onesmus, 69, is one of them.
Two days after the attack, on June 18, local time, Onimos organized the funeral of his son and grandson. Onemos' son was originally a security guard at Lubi Lila Middle School, where his two grandsons also attend. What is certain is that Onimos' son and one of his grandsons were killed in an attack carried out by the Confederate Forces for Democracy.
Onimos is still following the latest police information in hopes of finding the whereabouts of his missing 15-year-old grandson. The BBC noted that it was unclear whether the child had been abducted by the Allied Forces for Democracy or if his body could not be identified because his body had been badly burned.
The last time there was a similar attack on schools in Uganda was 25 years ago. In June 1998, the "Allied Democratic Forces" attacked a technical college on the border, killing more than 80 students and abducting more than 100.
By targeting schools, the "Confederate Forces for Democracy" may want to send a signal. Richard Moncrieff, a regional expert for crisis groups at the International Crisis Group, said the groups wanted to create a bad influence through violence.
In addition, Dick Olum, commander of Uganda's military operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, noted that the attack meant that the Confederate pour la démocratie was under intense pressure to divert the attention of pursuers by launching violent attacks, the latest of which was an attempt to ease pressure on the front lines.
The manhunt continues
At present, the Ugandan military is pursuing the "Democratic Confederation Army" in the direction of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Located in the province of North Kivu in eastern DRC, Virunga National Park covers an area of about 7,800 square kilometers and borders Rwanda and Uganda, and is one of the two main habitats of the endangered and rare animal mountain gorilla. The Allied Forces for Democracy (ADF) has long used this vast area as a hiding place.
The Ugandan military has called on local residents to remain vigilant and report any suspicious situations. Kuraijay said Ugandan troops and police were chasing enemies and had also deployed helicopters to rescue kidnapped students and work to destroy the group.
The "Democratic Alliance Army" was established in western Uganda in the 90s of the 20th century, and after being besieged and suppressed by the Ugandan government, it fled to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has been entrenched until now. In addition to its anti-Ugandan government activities, the ADF regularly attacks the local population, as well as Congolese security forces and United Nations peacekeeping forces. In recent years, the Democratic Alliance and the extremist group Islamic State have shown signs of convergence. In 2014, the group was sanctioned by the United Nations for creating terrorist activities in the region.
Since December 2021, Uganda has sent troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to conduct joint military operations against the "Allied Democratic Forces".
On June 18, 2023, local time, Mpendewe, Uganda, blood stains were glued to the broken windows of a dormitory at Lubi Lila Middle School. Photo/Visual China
This time there was an attack on the Lubi Lila secondary school, and Olum said that the "Confederate Army" had been in the town for two nights before the attack, and that "it was a very shameful thing in itself".
"I also can't figure out how these attackers broke into the school." Onimos said there is a significant military presence in the area.
Onimos wasn't alone in asking questions. Many local residents criticized the Ugandan government for not preparing for the attack. "They tell us the border is safe, it's secure, but where are they when these people come to kill people?" One resident told the BBC.
In fact, villagers in the Congolese provinces of Ituri and North Kivu have been victims of attacks by the Confederate pour la démocratie (ADF) in recent years, and attacks on the Ugandan side of the border are indeed rare. This is partly thanks to Uganda's Alpine Brigade in the region, and security has long been seen as one of the Ugandan government's strengths, the AP noted. The attack was also a blow to the Ugandan armed forces.
In response, Ugandan President Auri Museveni vowed to send more troops to the Uganda-DRC border. Museveni wrote in a statement that "we are sending more troops to the area south of Mount Ruvenzori (in western Uganda)... Their actions [of the attacks on schools] are extremely dangerous, cowardly acts of terrorism... We are deploying more troops to the Ugandan side (of the border), while we continue to search for the Congolese side. ”
On June 17, local time, UN Secretary-General Guterres, through his deputy spokesman Farhan Haque, said that he strongly condemned the attack on a local school by the Ugandan rebel "Democratic Alliance Army".
Guterres expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, the Ugandan government and people, and called for the immediate release of the abductees. He reiterated the importance of collective efforts, including through strengthening regional partnerships to address cross-border insecurity between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda and restore lasting peace in the region.
Beijing News reporter Luan Ruoxi
Edited by Zhang Lei Proofread by Liu Yue