AFRICA/UGANDA - PEACE IN UGANDA AND PEACE IN SUDAN ARE CONNECTED” SAYS ARCHBISHOP ODAMA OF GULU. REPORTED DEATH OF CATHOLIC PRIEST IN NORTHERN UGANDA DENIED

Thursday, 6 November 2003

Kampala (Fides Service)- “The path to peace in Sudan and the path to peace in Uganda are connected: national reconciliation in our great neighbour will certainly lead to positive developments here in Uganda” Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu told Fides Service this morning. The archdiocese of Gulu is in northern Uganda for years the scene of guerrilla fighting by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels (LRA). The wars in Sudan e in Uganda are connected because for years the governments of Kampala and Khartoum have fought each other indirectly funding each others rebels. In Sudan an agreement has been reached by the government and rebels to put an end to 20 years of war in Southern Sudan. “I am convinced that this is the beginning of a process of regional reconciliation from which Uganda also stands to benefit” says Archbishop Odama, “the international community must continue to support this process keeping in mind the principle that the value of human life is superior to any other principle or interest. I think this moral impulse is at the basis of the involvement of the United States and the European Union in peace processes in our countries”.
In northern Uganda rebels continue to target civilians. However, the news that Catholic priest Father Matthew Okun Lagoro was killed yesterday in ambush in Uganda has since been denied. “Father Lagoro is alive, having miraculously escaped from his aggressors” Archbishop Odama tells Fides Service.
We would like to underline the importance of verifying facts and sources before giving news especially when referring to situations as delicate as the present moment in Uganda and many other parts of the world. We owe precision and correct reporting to the many missionaries and priests operating in danger zones. (Fides Service 6/11/2003 lines 26 words 323)


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