Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Gulu (Fides Service)- Gulu, 332 km from the Ugandan capital Kampala, is traditionally seen as the capital city of northern, it has an area of 11,732 sq. km and a population of 479,496 (2002), 85% Acholi. Other ethnic groups present include Langi, Madi and Alur. No less than eight different languages are spoken here, Luo, English, Swahili, Madi, Lugbara, Luganda, Acholi and Kinubi.
For years Gulu has been at the centre of guerrilla war conducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Composed mainly of Acholi warriors, the LRA has been fighting since 1989 President Yoweri Museveni who took power in 1986 overthrowing a military junta made up mostly of Acholi officers. Groups of former soldiers of this ethnic group took refuge in Sudan and gave rise to various guerrilla movements including the Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA ideology is based on religious syncretism mixing elements of Christianity, Islam and Traditional African religions. This is why the different religious leaders are actively trying to negotiate reconciliation and peace.
One of the most active is the Catholic Archbishop of Gulu, Archbishop John Baptist Odama.
In an interview last September the Archbishop told Fides about the negotiations Odama. “I am a member of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, an association to promote peace comprising leaders of the religions in this region Muslims and Christians (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox). As such and in agreement with the Ugandan government I met Otti Vincent second in command of the LRA no less that 6 times last year 2002 between July and September. The first meeting was tense and we spoke for 6 hours, from 4pm to 10 in the evening. I was with other religious leaders and a few members of parliament. At the time there was an intense exchange of letters between government and rebels and we carried the letters. That was why they called us the Bridge. But unfortunately in September 2002, the talks were suspended. The government warned me that the rebels would try to kill me and advised me to contact them only by telephone”. Contact continues, as Archbishop Odama said in a recent conversation with Fides (see Fides 28 April 2004).
The Church has been attacked several times by the LRA. In May 2003 the rebels abducted a group of seminarians from Lachor seminary and several priests have been killed in recent years. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/4/2004, righe 36 parole 447)
