Pupils and teachers of Laminladera Primary School, Koro Sub County in Gulu district are in fear of getting hit by unexploded ordinances after ten live bullets were discovered Wednesday morning on the school compound.
It is unclear were the bullets could have come from. But Laminladera, like many parts of northern Uganda, is where the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the Uganda government for more than two decades fought a vicious war that at its peak left about 2 million people displaced from their homes into internally displaced persons camp.
Pauline Anek, the Headteacher of the school said the bullets were found on their assembly ground.
Anek said some pupils, unaware of the danger the bullets posed, were already playing with it.
A teacher is said to have noticed the students playing with the bullets and promptly removed it from them.
Samuel Olanya, 26, a resident in the area says Laminladera and Adak are the two schools which served as bases for the LRA rebels during the peak of the insurgency.
Olanya says between 1993 and 2003, the two schools were turned into battlegrounds before the rebels were dislodged by the government forces in 2004.
In April this year, farmers in Laminladera village, Koro Sub-county abandoned farming for fear of getting hit by unexploded bombs that were planted in the area during the Lord’s Resistance Army war.
The five unexploded bombs were discovered by children in the middle of a garden.
The discovery of the bomb brought to a total of 19 unexploded ordinances discovered in the same area in less than six months.
Several attempts to get a comment on the latest discovery of bullets from Lt Ronald Ovon, the 4th Division army spokesperson were futile since his phone was off.
Capt Michael Ayaka, the commandant of the 4th Division Combat Engineering declined to comment on the matter saying he is not authorized to talk to the press.
In 2008, seven young children were killed in a bomb explosion in a village in Gulu.
In Amuru, one man was blown up by a grenade while digging, according to mine risk educator, Ochan Ongom.
In Pader, three children were killed this year when a bomb they were playing with went off.
“We are receiving cases of UXOs being discovered by former internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their villages particularly in Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum and Pader,” Ongom said.
The army has warned that clearing the whole region off unexploded ordinances will take time
1 Comment
Which is why you have got to start-up the Clearing now.