UGANDAÂÂ7/2/2004Â16:27
LIRA: âDEFEND OUR PEOPLE FROM THE REBELSâ, APPEAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO GOVERNMENT
âUgandan authorities have the duty to protect the entire civil population living in the northern Ugandan districts, where the rebels of the LRA (lordâs Resistance Army) reap death and destructionâ: as underlined in a note issued today by the Lango Religious Leaders Forum (LRLF), the cartel that unites the leaders of all the different religious confessions present in the Apac and Lira districts, populated by the Lango ethnic group. If the government is not capable of guaranteeing the safety of the people, with its armed forces, âit has the moral obligation to request the intervention of an international peacekeeping force, under the aegis of the United Nationsâ, continued the note. In expressing condolences to the families of the victims of the Abia massacre â carried out last Wednesday and widely covered by MISNA â the religious leaders reminded that solidarity and spiritual communion among the faithful grow in the moments of trial. The LRLF note, signed by its chairman, Anglican Bishop John Odurkami, also emphasises the humanitarian emergency afflicting hundreds of thousands of Lango displaced, particularly in the eastern sector of the district of Lira. The rebels of the LRA, headed by Joseph Kony, a crazy visionary for years supported by Khartoum, have been active in the northern districts of Uganda since the late 80âs, abducing over 25-thousand children forcedly recruited into the ranks of the armed movement.
[BO]
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
