Olikwi Village Massacre Site: Arapi Parish, Arinyapi Sub County, Adjumani District
Site scoped with funding support from EU (Promoting Sustainable Peace,Security and Justice in West Nile Sub-region)
Olikwi village massacre site is located 32km from Adjumani town. It is found in Arapi parish, Arinyapi sub county. Olikwi is said to have been affected in the 1970s by the Uganda Liberation war, then by the 1980s war, then Alice Lakwena rebellion in the late 1980s, and the Lords’ Resistance Army conflict from the late 1980s to 2006 according to respondents. In all those war times, locals were either displaced to neighbouring districts or sought exile in neighbouring countries of Congo and South Sudan. However much of internal displacements were a result of the LRA incursion into West Nile through the porous borders of northern Uganda.
On the 20th March 2004 the LRA stormed Olikwi village and killed 5 people in the night. Two of the elderly people killed were buried in th
e family grave yard 15 meters away from killing site and two others were killed along the way as they attempted to flee for their lives. Those that survived the attack sought refuge in Arinyapi sub-county headquarters. To date only a few people have settled back in Olikwi simply because of the bad memories and the fear they still carry despite the absence of the LRA. According to one witness “people have not resettled entirely; just a few are returning”. On a positive note the return has not led to land disputes unlike in other LRA-affected communities. This is because the land in which the attack took place is occupied by one clan.
Recollecting his memories, one witness narrated that …. “It was on 20th March, 2004, we were from a funeral. That’s when the LRA attacked and killed my brothers. News had reached us of approaching LRA from Southern Sudan. During the attack, they also raided and took away with them some animals. In an attempt to escape death people were forced to run across river Tete. After the attack life became very difficult. People continued to stay in fear. During the day, the people sneaked back to their homes because the LRA mostly attacked at night. For safety then, the locals took to the bushes across river Tete whenever night time falls. The trend continued till this massacre happened – and then people were forced to flee to Arinyapi as IDPs…”
Though not clearly visible and without marks/signs to locate the killing sites, members in the community still clearly remember points and places where the killings took place.The manner in which people were massacred was a very painful one. In the words of one witness in Olikwi “People were not shot but were knifed; my father was knifed 8 times, and my brother 7 times, they died badly”. To date some individuals in Olikwi village attribute the high rate of poverty to the LRA attacks. Some allege that they lost over 60 head of cattle and more than one hundred goats.
GPS Location of Olikwi LRA Massacre is (N3.480353,E32.016051), Elv 632m-
A burial site of two elderly victims