Alebtong. Omoro sub-county authorities are stuck with unexploded bombs causing panic among police officers and the public at large. 20 meters away from Omoro police station in Omoro sub-county in Alebtong District stands a mango tree hosting four unexploded bombs.
Two of them are stuck on a tree trunk while the other two are lying exposed under the tree in a place that was used by the UPDF as a barrack to protect people living in the Omoro IDP camp during the LRA insurgency.
The area where the bombs are only 200 meters from the sub-county headquarters and about 500 meters from Omoro South Primary school and Omoro trading center, which has over 1000 dwellers. According to local authorities, the bombs were discovered in 2019 but since then all efforts to have them assessed, removed and or detonated have been futile.
Isaac Apenyo alias Okwas, the area LC 3 chairperson, says that the presence of the bombs is posing a big risk to the lives of children who frequent the tree for mangoes and innocently tamper with the devices. He appeals to the responsible people to come and detonate the bombs to save their lives. According to Apenyo, who is visibly frustrated, they are now considering manually detonating the bombs using paraffin and petrol.
A police officer attached to Omoro Police Station, says that the presence of the rusty bombs poses a great danger to them in case of an explosion. Janet Akite, a resident of Omoro trading center, who was scared of seeing the bombs is more worried about the children who carelessly go to pick mangoes from the tree despite the visible presence of the bombs.
Jimmy Patrick Okema, the North Kyoga Region Police Spokesperson, says police are aware of the ordinances and are engaging the police bomb squad to do something. Similarly, Robert Adiama Ekaju, the Alebtong Resident District Commissioner confirmed having received information regarding the bombs and taken action.
The RDC says the UPDF bomb team has been notified to come and remove the devices and have them detonated. However, attempts to get a comment from the UPDF 5th Division spokesperson were futile by the time of filing this story. The over 20 years of LRA insurgency in Northern Uganda left bombs, bullets and a few land mines lying in the open while some are buried underground.
Several years after the guns went silent and people returned to their homes, these unexploded ordnances are still causing havoc among community members. In July last year, a bomb excavated by an ox plough exploded in Otuke district and shuttered the right palm of a 15-year-old boy when he picked it up and attempted to throw it away. In a similar instance, an explosion killed Alfred Mandela, 24, a scrap dealer in Kapeeka town, Nakaseke District in November 2021. The incident took place in Kapeeka trading center after the victim unknowingly picked up the bomb from a heap of scrap metal and began crushing it with a hammer. It remains unclear where he acquired the materials.
Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), and explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other munitions) that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, sometimes many decades after they were used or discarded. UXO does not always originate from wars; areas such as military training grounds can also hold significant numbers, even after the area has been abandoned.
