UGANDA 11/7/2003 17:46
ARCHBISHOP OF GULU: “MR. BUSH THIS IS A NATION DEVASTATED BY WAR”
Church/Religious Affairs, Standard
“The President of the United States must know that Uganda is not a nation reigned by peace: the north is torn by violence and fighting, so George W. Bush’s agenda should not only include issues such as AIDS and the fight against terrorism”. This is how Monsignor John Baptiste Odama, Archbishop of Gulu, administrative centre of the homonymous northern Ugandan district, commented to MISNA the arrival in Uganda of the number one of the White House, on the second last stopover of his African tour. “We ask you Mr. President – continued the prelate – to intervene so the United Nations Security Council addresses a forgotten tragedy such as that of North Uganda, or that You directly ask the sides to engage in dialogue as in the case of Sudan”. The northern sector of the nation, as reminded by Monsignor Odama, has been devastated for 18 years by the violence of the rebels of the LRA (lord’s Resistance Army), who have been combating an endless and violent war against government troops. A silent and forgotten conflict, that since the late 80’s has transformed into a slow genocide of the Nilotic populations that live in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Apac and Lira. The abduction of children, over 20-thousand so far, as also the displacement of some 850-thousand people out of a population of around 1.4-million, are merely the most evident examples of the condition of this part of Uganda, target of an armed group, the LRA, recently inserted on the black list of terrorist organisations compiled by the US State Department. “We would like to turn your attention to this conflict Mr. Bush”, wrote the ARLPI (Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative) – headed by Monsignor Odama for years engaged in efforts for a peaceful solution to the North Ugandan crisis – in an open letter, published yesterday by Ugandan’s two main newspapers. “We ask the administration and the people of the United States – concludes the note – to pressure the Sudanese government to stop providing arms to the LRA, to protect the children from abductions, to support efforts for a peaceful solution to the crisis and convince the UN and international public opinion that the Ugandan situation is in need of an urgent solution”. [BO]
