Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kampala (Fides Service )- Another of the seminarians kidnapped on 11 May by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Lachor, Uganda, is free. The news was confirmed to Fides Service by Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu. “The boy is now with an army unit but it is still not clear whether he was set free by his captors or he managed to escape” says Archbishop Odama.
The boy, free since Sunday 18 May, is the fourth to escape captivity. Unfortunately on Friday 16 May the LRA killed four boys. “The boys were exhausted after being forced to walk by their captors” says Archbishop Odama “they were unable to walk another step. Rather than leave them behind, free, the rebels killed the boys. This atrocious act was obviously aimed at terrorising the others and dissuade them from staging a rebellion”.
The seminarians, 41 in all, were kidnapped during the night of 10 and 11 May by a group of LRA troops which attacked the seminary in Lachor northern Uganda. During the attack one eight year old boy was killed. For years guerrilla groups in northern Uganda have kidnapped boys and sent them to their military training camps in Sudan which turn them into warriors.
Negotiations are underway for the release of all the boys without ulterior blood shedding.
“The tragedy of kidnapped children has gone on too long” Comboni missionary Father Tarcisio Pazzaglia, tells Fides Service. The Italian missionary has been working in northern Uganda on the Sudan border for several years. “In the last twelve months in Omianlyima parish alone, not far from Kitgum, no less than 284 boys were kidnapped and 81 of them killed. The rest are still in the hands of guerrillas who are training them for combat. In Kitgum 400 boys were kidnapped and 30 of them later killed. Behind these figures there is the desperation of families who have lost their children. It is a heartbreaking spectacle to see mothers coming to us to ask if the only child left can sleep at the mission for fear that he too may be taken away ”.
“These unfortunate boys are harshly maltreated” says Father Tarcisio “they are tied together in groups of five and at the slightest attempt to rebel, they are beaten or even killed”.
In early March the LRA declared a cease fire which never came into force. Formed mainly of Acholi, the LRA since 1989 has fought president Yoweri Museveni who took power in 1986 overthrowing a military junta formed mainly of Acholi officers. The former militia of the ethnic group, taking refuge in Sudan formed various guerrilla groups one of them being the LRA.
Besides being an ethnic group the LRA is also based on ideology of religious syncretism mixing elements of Christianity and Islam with those of traditional African religions. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 19/5/2003 lines 36 words 491)
