At least three people were last night attacked by suspected ‘‘iron bar hitmen’’ in Gulu town.
The attack comes only a day after angry town residents lynched two suspected thugs thought to be part of the thieves terrorizing town residents.
Gulu has in the last two months seen a rise in crime. Over that period, two people have been killed and 20 injured. Police has arrested and arraigned before court about 130 suspects. But even this doesn’t appear to have halted the attacks on Gulu town residents.
One of the early morning victims of attack from the ”iron bar hitmen” was Jacob Olwoch, a journalist working for Gulu FM. He was hit on his way to work. Mr Obwona hosts an early morning show on the radio.
The other victim has been identified as Samuel Onen, a staff of National Water and Sewerage Corporation Adjumani Branch. He was hit a few meters from Diplomate Hotel in Gulu town.
The third victim was Lucy Atim hit near Acholi Ber Hotel on the same street as Diplomat Hotel. The two hotels are located on Market Street in Gulu town. The attacks reportedly occurred at around 5am.
Aswa region police spokesman, Jimmy Patrick Okema confirmed the attacks and said a one suspect has been arrested. He revealed the the suspect as one Charles Omony, car washer. The suspect has been detained at Gulu Central police.
Okema said Onen was the only person found around the area[Market Street] where the attacks took place.
The police spokesman said the victims of the attacks were taken to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital where they are getting treatment.
The police has meanwhile discouraged residents from moving about late in the night and very early in the morning.
6 Comments
First this is not cultural. Either the people are coming from other districts sponsered to terrorize, they do not want to see peace.
surveillance cameras every where on trees or on top of roofs. Abili myero gumed lamak cal mapol i kin piny. Kibed ka penyo lwak ka gingeyo welo mo, jo ma gitey ka donyo i Gulu, ticgi ngo? Gubibedo pi kare ma rom mene?. Jo mogo giloko leb Acoli nyo tiyo ki nying Acoli ento gin pe gi Acoli. Lumerok ma gubino ka lweny.
Guest,
This is as cultural as culture can be. Keep in mind that culture is not static. It is subject to change due to interaction with other cultures or changes in the economic, social, religious and political environment. I agree that surveillance cameras will be helpful in identifying the criminals, but by themselves, they cannot solve the problem. The suggestion that people who come into and live in Gulu should be screen on the basis of the language they speak, what they do, what names they use etc. is a dangerous precedent. Not every foreigner (non-Acholi) who visits, lives or works in Gulu is a criminal just like Acholi people who live in Kampala and other towns where there are crimes cannot be assumed or suspected to be criminals by simply being Acholis. If so, why should they be profiled like that. What if the same approach is applied in other towns where Acholi and other people live? Besides, that will not prevent Acholi people who are criminals. The best thing to do is to be vigilant against criminals regardless of their ethnicity, gender religion, politics etc. It is also important to know why there is an uptick in these crimes. Are they politically motivated, organized or random, and are they due to the high level of poverty/unemployment? Otherwise, without knowing the underlying motives, any random approach to solve the problem will be like trying to repair a punctured bicycle tube by putting a patch without knowing where the puncture is.
Is that what I said? That every foreigner is a criminal? This iron bar was reported in Kampala for how long? Then it moved to Ankole region. Now it is moved to Gulu. It is a normal police patrol to ask people and investigate new trend in society. Do Acoli hit people with iron bars at random in the night? Even during the war people we did not hear of iron bar incidents like these.
Well Guest, reread your post where it starts with “Abili myero …..” up to the end. If you did not say it, you at least implied that the iron bar hit men are non-Acholis. Otherwise, what is the point of asking about names and language etc.? Even in your second post, you implied that they must be moving from town to town from elsewhere. Do you know who the nationality or ethnicity of the iron bar hit men? Even if you do, the kind of investigation you are asking for is not going to reveal who they are. For all you know, they could drive from another town, commit the crime and drive out the next day. Or, they could be long time residents of the town who have gone rogue. Just because the type of crime is moving from town to town says nothing about who is doing it. To my point about culture not being static, Acholi culture has undergone tremendous changes since the coming of the colonialists or even as recently as 30 years ago. There are children who live in the urban areas and do not even know how to grow food crops. What do they do to sustain themselves if they have no jobs? They could easily be used as tools for a fistful of shillings in the service of some people to achieve whatever goals they may have. I am just saying.
It is useless arguing with you… If you know that the criminals move from town to town so what is wrong in the police asking who has come in and for how long? That is a migration question which needs to be answered. It helps identification too..
What is wrong with asking who comes in and for how long is when you focus only on non-Acholi people. What if the criminals are Acholi people, residents of Gulu town? The type of crime which seems to be moving from town to town may involve the same criminals moving from town to town. Asking your kind of questions may identify them, but so far you have no evidence to suspect any foreigners coming into Gulu. Besides, the criminals in different towns may simply be copy cats i.e. local people copying the type of crimes they have heard of elsewhere. If so, screening who comes into Gulu and for how long will do nothing to identify them. In fact there are reports that some of these may be opportunistic petty local criminals or organized criminals driven by the need to steal from other people. There are also a belief that there is another type of the hit men who are supposedly driven by evil spirits and they are not interested in stealing anything. In that case, the crime in Gulu may look the same as those in the other towns, but they are not committed by people coming from other parts of Uganda.