wfn.org | UGANDA: CHURCH LEADERS CONDEMN GOVERNMENT SECURITY MEASURES

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Oct. 31, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.10.5.11]

UGANDA: CHURCH LEADERS CONDEMN GOVERNMENT SECURITY MEASURES

(ENI) Religious leaders in war-torn northern Uganda have condemned
President Yoweri Museveni for forcing people to settle in "protected"
villages or camps in order to shield them from armed rebels who are
trying to overthrow the Government.
In a letter circulated to all government and military leaders in the
Northern region, 10 church leaders, Protestant and Roman Catholic, said
the policy had failed to bring security to the region and had brought
suffering to northern Ugandans.
The letter was released at the end of a three-day seminar on justice and
peace organised by the Anglican Church in the northern town of  Kitgum.
"Recalling the painful experience of the so-called protected villages in
Gulu district [in northern Uganda] started last year, we strongly oppose
the idea of herding our rural population into camps," the letter, dated
12 October, stated. Among the signatories was Macleord Baker Ochola II,
Bishop of the Diocese of Kitgum in the (Anglican) Church of the Province
of Uganda. The bishop's wife was killed in an ambush by the rebels of
the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which is led by a former Catholic
catechist, Joseph Kony. The Church leaders accused the Ugandan Army of
using the prospect of food relief to force people out of their own homes
in the districts of Gulu and Kitgum and  into protected camps. "This is
real blackmail of our people who only wish to live in peace and dignity
in their own villages," they said.
The religious leaders claimed that Gulu and Kitgum districts had been
omitted from the official list of districts qualifying for relief food,
although the districts were faced with a severe drought, with people
dying from starvation and related diseases. "We would like our
authorities to clarify whether our two districts have been left out of
the official list for relief food," they said.
The two districts have suffered badly from intermittent conflict with
the LRA which is reportedly getting support from the Sudanese government
of President Omar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir. The LRA employs a mixture of
religion and witchcraft in its fight against government forces. LRA
members claim to have an oil which, if smeared on the legs and chest,
stops bullets from entering the body. They also claim they have white
stones which explode like bombs when thrown at the enemy.
The LRA says it wants to establish a government based on the Ten
Commandments, but the rebel soldiers have killed thousands of civilians
in their eight-year struggle. The rebels frequently cut off the ears,
lips and noses of villagers suspected of collaboration with government
military forces.
Church heads and other leaders from northern Uganda have repeatedly
urged President Museveni to start talks with the rebels. But he has
rejected their appeals, saying the relatives of the victims killed by 
the rebels would never forgive his government for talking peace with the
LRA. 
Addressing the 35th Independence Anniversary parade and rally on 9
October at Kololo Airstrip, in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, President
Museveni said the army was taking a  long time to end the rebellion in
the north because soldiers did not want to harm the local citizens.
He blamed the Sudanese Government for the conflict, saying Sudan was
responsible for the death of Ugandans at the hands of the LRA.  "All
these killings of innocent civilians are the responsibility of Bashir
and Hassan Turabi [the Islamist leader, who last year became president
of Sudan's parliament]  who are sending and arming Kony," President
Museveni said.