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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2026
Preparations are underway in West Nile geared at marking the 45th anniversary of the dreaded Ombaci massacre that has left an indelible mark of the bitter taste of political instability in Uganda’s North-Western region.
It was a dramatic episode of horror on June 24, 1981 that marked the apex of the Uganda National Liberation Army’s contest with the Former Uganda National Army (FUNA), an amalgamation of the former soldiers of the late president Idi Amin’s regime.
A blatant attack on civilians gathered at a designated but ultimately misunderstood safe area by the International Red Cross Society at St Joseph’s College, Ombaci on that Day following a failed invasion of the Arua urban area and rebuffed attack on Bondo barracks ended with 48 civilians killed.
The internally displaced people’s camp was decimated and West Nile’s population emptied into exile in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan (Sudan).
Those who survived the massacre with bullet wounds were taken to Angali hospital in Nebbi district, according to Emmanuel Ajedra who volunteered to lead the Red Cross transportation team.
However many other atrocities were committed at Muni, Ringili, Odromacaku and other parts of West Nile where civilians were killed I cold blood, women raped and children abandoned to fate.
A whole generation was lost to exile life and lack of educational opportunities, laying the foundation for the persisting cycle of poverty in the region that has remained second to the impoverished Karamoja sub-region in Uganda’s poverty index.
To galvanize the population of the region that is mostly composed of the third to fourth generation after the massacres, Richard Andama, the executive director of the West Nile Compensation Advocacy Network (WE-CAN), the lead agency spearheading the organization of the commemoration events has invited President Yoweri Museveni to be chief guest.
He said this is because West Nile needs an extraordinary economic master plan to break out of this quagmire created by those dark years and the subsequent rebel movements that swept throughout the region up to the defeat of the Lord’s Resistance Army terrorism in northern Uganda in 2007.
Andama said the government and the people need to come together to tackle this challenge head on if the region is to be put on the right footing to meet the nation development blueprint of attaining a n upper-middle income status by 2040.
If successfully organized as planned, the 2026 commemoration will be the biggest hosting of the anniversary to-date and would usher in a new era of development in the region.
A series of week-long activities including sporting events, cultural extravaganza expected to draw the participation of the Congolese and South Sudan refugees and government officials as well as educational symposia are lined up to precede the D-Day memorial event.
Crucially, said Andama, President Yoweri Museveni has already okayed registration, identification and verification of the war victims and survivors for compensation under the auspices of the office of the Prime minister.
The process has already kicked off and the first phase of registered and verified people could be filed with the OPM by the end of June, according those familiar with the arrangements.
The registration will cover all the districts in West Nile since the wars and civil unrest left no part of the region untouched.
Veronica Eyotaru, the Secretary of the Ombaci Massacre Survivors’ Association called for financial support to realize the objectives of organizing the anniversary this year.
Meanwhile Alex Matua, the Kony war Victim’s Association chairman thanked President Museveni for directing the Prime Minister Robinna Nabbanja to initiate the processing of compensation for the about 1,000 business community members whose merchandise was destroyed and whose relatives lost their lives during the LRA insurgency between Pakwach and Karumah.
He commended the president for the tarmacking of the Karumah-Pakwach-Arua-Oraba road which he said has reduced the travel time for the business people from over one week to just hours.
“We used to spend more than one week going to and from Kampala because there was no tarmac. Our Lorries would get stuck on the road for days during the rainy season and we would gather with hoes and spades to dig the Lorries out of the mud. The situation would even be worse when insurgents attack the Lorries and buses,” he recounted of the bitter memories of war.
Matua said the government should now roll out a program for general compensation of the region as an affirmative action plan to pull West Nile clear of under-development and poverty.
