Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Gulu (Fides Service)- “I am here with the workmen, we are building a home for high-school girl pupils”. Loud and clear the voice of a missionary working in northern Uganda reaches Fides from the most forgotten region of the country where most people live in refugee camps to escape attacks on civilians by the LRA, the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
“The home will offer protection to high school girls. In this situation of instability, young people girls in particular are in great danger … not many girls finish high school without becoming pregnant” the missionary explains. He says the schools are “dilapidated, teachers are scarce and school material non existent. We missionaries help the families by paying the school fees for 300 high school pupils, boys and girls. We have the Italian association, the Associazione di Volontariato per lo Sviluppo Internazionale (AVSI) which supplies didactic material. In a spirit of ecumenism we work with other Christians to support school children in the region of Uganda”.
With regard to the situation in general the missionary said: “Security has improved, there are less ambushes and people feel slightly safer. But most still live in refugee camps and depend on international aid. The sowing season has just started and we hope that the situation of more security will convince people to go back to their land and sow crops. It is sad to see these people so dependent on international aid when they could be self-supporting since the land is fertile and a number of humanitarian organisations distributed seed”.
Some days ago there were reports that the Ugandan army was recruiting children among its ranks to fight the LRA. “In my opinion these reports are false” the missionary said. “There may have been some isolated cases but I would not say that the army is involved in systematic recruiting of children, something which the LRA, on the contrary, has done for years”. “However there is a vast programme to recruit village guards” the missionary said. “These are local militia paid by the army to protect their own villages from LRA attacks. The funny thing is that after while village guards join the army troops and more village guards are recruited. What is the meaning of this massive recruitment when peace talks are taking place?” asked the missionary and he added: “many of the men recruited are criminals, some have escaped from prison. So the army does not always behave correctly with regard to the civilian population”.
Former minister Betty Bigombe has been working for several months to negotiate a political solution to the war which has shed blood in northern Uganda for the past 20 years. To facilitate talks the government declared a cease fire over a restricted area. The cease fire expired at the end of 2004 but the Ugandan president Museveni decided to extend it (see Fides 4 February 2005). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/2/2005 righe 44 parole 551)
