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New Vision (Kampala)February 14, 2004
Posted to the web February 16, 2004
Milton Olupot
Kampala
THE Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) has condemned the Government for its attack on Fr. Carlos Rodriguez, a member of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), by calling him a rebel sympathiser and a liar.The APG during a press conference on Thursday said it was unfortunate that the Government was bent on silencing anybody who tried to raise the issue of the suffering of the people of northern Uganda.
Gulu district security committee recommended that he be deported "for spreading false information prejudicial to national security."
The army had earlier on also demanded that Carlos be deported.The Minister of State for security, Betty Akech, who is also the Gulu Woman MP, on Wednesday described Carlos as a liar and a rebel sympathiser.She said he was trying to incite people in northern Uganda against the state and frustrate Operation Iron Fist against the LRA rebels.
She said Carlos had a secret interest that would soon be exposed.Prof. Morris Ogenga (Agago), however, said the attacks were a concerted effort against religious leaders who were the only voices courageous enough to speak for the people.
"We warn that if anything happens to Carlos we will conclude that there is a religious vendetta against the Catholics in this country," he added.Samuel Odonga Otto (Aruu) said the church was the only structure that the people in the north had left that they could lean on.
"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
