Print This Page
Visit�The�Publisher's�Site
The Monitor (Kampala)EDITORIAL
February 11, 2004
Posted to the web February 11, 2004
Kampala
The army's indefensible wish to have Fr Carlos Rodriguez deported on spurious claims that he "spreads false information prejudicial to national security" must be resisted by all human rights defenders.This questionable intention follows the priest's credible accusations that the army was "heavy-handed" in the way it carried out that disastrous cordon and search operation at Pabbo Internally Displaced People's Camp on February 1. The camp was burnt down in a mysterious fire.
Fr Rodriguez is a frontline member of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative and many times his work has put him on a collision course with the army.
This is mainly because he is critical of its handling of the war in the north. He has also exposed suspected human rights violations by government forces.For his pains, the army at one time made the capricious allegation that he is a rebel collaborator. This priest finds himself caught in a dilemma similar to the one faced by Fr Declan O'toole (RIP) in 2002 in Karamoja.
Fr O'toole had reportedly compiled an indicting dossier on suspected gun-running by elements of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces stationed in the volatile Karamoja sub-region.He had also reported abuses by the army. He was killed in a mysterious 'ambush' by two soldiers, who were themselves later summarily shot to death by firing squad after a hurriedly conducted field court martial found them guilty of the crime.
There is sufficient evidence available that some rogue units of this army may have committed the sort of crimes Fr Rodriguez has spoken out against.He may have made errors of judgement in some cases but this does not necessitate the drastic reaction of a deportation.
If he is deported, how different would Uganda be from Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe where human rights defenders, civil society leaders and members of the opposition are harassed for speaking out?
With the international community getting more interested in this forgotten conflict, that has been described by the UN as the worst humanitarian crisis today, Uganda does not want to expose itself to accusations of a cover-up - because that is exactly what a deportation of Fr Rodriguez would connote.
"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
