Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday blamed last weekend's devastating rebel attack in northern Uganda on "mistakes" by the army and apologized to the region's people.
Making a personal visit to the area where 200 unarmed civilians were hacked, shot and burned alive at a refugee camp, Museveni the army should never have allowed the attack to occur.
"It's very sad, on behalf of the government, or the army, I apologize to the people because the mistake is on the side of the army," a somber Museveni said after visiting a hospital packed with survivors.
"They [the army] did not coordinate well but we have got a long struggle, we shall overcome. We shall win, like we have won all other previous challenges," he said.
Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army armed with mortars, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades raided the Barlonyo camp on Saturday evening, shooting people who tried to flee and burning others in their homes.
Government troops swept through villages in northern Uganda Monday hunting rebels who were responsible for killing more than 200 refugees in one of the worst atrocities of recent years.
As the death toll continued to rise, the government was also having to reappraise its strategy of arming local militias to defend civilians against the fighters from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
Survivors of the massacre at the Barlonyo refugee camp near Lira said that the rebels quickly overcame the small group of militiamen assigned to defend them.
Some rebels were wearing militia uniforms, eyewitnesses said, which initially lulled the refugees into not being suspicious.
A similar tactic was employed in an attack on another refugee camp this month, when rebels wearing Ugandan army uniforms sat down to watch a football match with their intended victims before carrying out a massacre.
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