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January 27, 2005

Brawl at Lotuke

Outside of New Cush the road that had been bad, turned to worse. We began to ascend and descend rocky riverbeds, nearly tipping the Hilux on more than one occasion.


We used the machete on branches and cleared a road most told us in Loki was impassible. We arrived in Lotuke at around 1PM. The gray sky helped to cool the air and the village had a deserted feeling. This was all Dadinga country and you could see Philip felt uneasy.

A few SRRC boys met us and guided us over to a small rectangled thatched structure. We were told to park the car up the hill and Will waited with the Tausi guide and the Tausi boy as we walk out of sight to the SRRC meeting hut. About 30 minutes of pointless talk ensued and I decided to go check on Will. As I crested the Hill Will saw me and began to wave in distress. I sauntered up not thinking anything was in danger. The approaching Will I could tell by his nervous face something had happened. Dadinga kids and a group of trouble making youths were in a tight circle around the Hilux. I asked what happened. “I just say someone get beat almost to death…I was standing watching out for the car and then these drunk guys showed up. They started trying to pull the Tausi out of the back…” At this I raced to the back cab to make sure the Tausi were alright, they were thank God. Will continued, “The started yelling at them and then started to fight each other. At first a skinny guy, who was drunk, started to push this fat man, who was also drunk. He was yelling and acting like he was going to punch him. The fat guy restrained himself until the skinny guy ran from behind and sucker punched him in the back of the head. The big guy turned and with one big punch knocked him out...” Will related to me later that the skinny guys head hit the ground with so much force that it sounded like something cracked. He said the skinny guys eyes rolled back and it was obvious he was hurt critically. “…He then started kicking this guy in the head. I mean he would take three steps back and then punt this man’s face. His neck snapped back and forth and this fat guy just kept kicking him…I don’t know if his survived…I tried to stop him, but this guy was on a rampage and the crowd around him started to yell, especially the women.”
I couldn’t believe this happened in the last thirty minutes and asked in quick succession, “What happened next? Is this guy coming back?”
Will pointed over the slope of a hill about 50 feet away and said, “When the women screamed out of nowhere five guys showed up with sticks and came after him. The argued for 30 seconds then someone smashed him with a punch. The fat guy staggered then tried to run away over that slope. They ran after him and started beating him with the sticks and then I saw him fall and they pummeled him and then…he rolled out of sight.”
“We’ve got to get out of here before this turns into a gunfight.” I said with some urgency.
“I tried to send someone for you, but these kids here said, ‘you go’ so they could loot the truck.” Will said annoyed by the thought of it.

I checked on the Tausi once again and saw in their eyes nervousness and deep fear. We needed to get them out of this place. I rushed down to Godfrey who was engaged with a questioning SRRC offical and then rallied the men with guns to protect the car. We all jogged up and secured the Hilux. Within ten minutes we were out of there. Next stop, Ugandan border.

Posted by Admin at January 27, 2005 07:28 PM