9 are killed at massacre protest

LIRA, Uganda - A protest after a massacre by rebels in northern Uganda erupted into a frenzy of gunfire and revenge Wednesday, with police shooting into crowds and demonstrators lynching rival tribesmen. At least nine people were killed.

The violence came days after one of the worst massacres in northern Uganda's 18-year-old rebellion, and underscored growing anger in the region over the government's inability to crush the Lord's Resistance Army, a quasireligious movement that seeks to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni.

Later Wednesday, the Ugandan Parliament voted unanimously to declare the northern part of the country a humanitarian disaster area, a move expected to free up extra money to aid victims of the rebellion.

Lawmakers also appealed to the international community to help end the war, but did not specify what kind of assistance they wanted.

Wednesday's protests came shortly after the Ugandan army announced it had killed 21 rebels who it said had massacred civilians - by some accounts, more than 200 - over the weekend at a refugee camp.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Lira to protest the unrest.

Smaller groups broke away from the protest and began burning and looting about 50 homes belonging to the Acholi, the northern tribe from which the rebels draw most of their fighters.

An Associated Press photographer saw police officers fire into the crowd of protesters, killing two people and wounding five. Mobs beat to death at least two people, police said.

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