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From September 6-10, members of JRP’s documentation team visited Mukura sub-county, Kumi district, Teso sub-region, to meet with members of the community and document the 1989 Mukura massacre.

During this time, we interviewed members of civil society, government officials, survivors of the massacre, and victims’ families, allowing us to gain insight into many perspectives on the massacre.

According to our findings, on July 11, 1989, the 106th Battalion of the NRA (former name of the national army) rounded-up 300 men suspected of being rebel collaborators against the NRA regime and incarcerated them in a train wagon.

There is little evidence to suggest that most of these men were anything other than innocent civilians. By the time they were released, 87 had suffocated to death. (This figure and some other details are highly contested, showing the need for a credible truth-seeking process into the event).

On June 10, Ugandan Finance Minister Syda Bumba announced that families of victims of the Mukura massacre would receive a total of 200 million Ugandan shillings, as set aside in the 2010/11 national budget.

This information and more gathered during our September visit to Mukura will be compiled into an upcoming report to document the massacre.