Members of Parliament (MPs) from the surrounding area have revealed a disturbing development in last Friday’s terrorist attack on a school in Kasese, revealing how military and police units under the Uganda People’s Defence Force stationed nearby were fully aware of the attack but delayed in taking action.
As the MPs described how the security forces remained in place while ignoring distress calls coming from and near Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School, there was outrage in the House.
Defence Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja presented a statement, claiming that when the school was attacked, security forces responded within 30 minutes.
That claim was quickly shot down. Legislators from Kasese, Uganda, stunned colleagues on Thursday, 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.
The terrorists murdered 37 students in that hour, killed the school watchman with a gunshot, set fire to two dorms while screaming students were still inside, and bludgeoned four residents to death.
Speaker Anita Among fired the minister and ordered him to come back with a proper statement outlining the government’s response, what happened to those who were captured, and specifics regarding the dead and injured.
Ms. Among demanded that all medical bills be covered by the government.
As Ms. Florence Kabugho (Kasese Woman MP) exposed the security flaws, the Defence Minister had nowhere to run.
Before attacking the nearby trading centre, the terrorists, according to her, spent more than an hour hacking the students to death.
A kilometre away, soldiers remained in their detachment, and police officers at a nearby station reportedly turned away a witness who hurriedly shouted for assistance.
“The minister has just told us that the attack took place at around 11 p.m…. He and everyone are aware that these rebels came and 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.
The attackers even took the time to make sure all of their victims were dead before setting the bodies on fire, according to survivors, Ms. Kabugho said.
“They did not stop there. They moved to the nearest trading centre and attacked, breaking into shops, looting everything, and going 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 the 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.
In response, other units stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) across the border attempted to intervene, according to Mr. Ferigo Kambale (Kasese Municipality), who claimed that soldiers stationed nearby failed to act promptly.
“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.
The Defence Minister had stated, before being stopped in his tracks, that on June 19, three days after the attack, a pursuing UPDF force had located and engaged the attackers.
“ The Uganda People’s Defence Force pursued the attackers southwards to River Lhubiriha, around 3km from the scene of the crime on June 19, at around 2:30 pm towards the confluence of rivers Semuliki and Taliha in DRC.
The attackers, who had made a hasty defensive position, were attacked by the Uganda People’s Defence Force mobile squad, where three enemies were killed, one submachine gun was captured, and one woman and three children were rescued,” he said.
This is the first time that the alleged encounter between Uganda People’s Defence Force soldiers and the alleged assailants has been mentioned.
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.