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Fr Fons Eppink MHM We were watching the evening news on TV when suddenly Brendan Jordan, the Rector of the Mill Hill Formation House, burst in: 'I have just received some terrible news', he announced, his voice stifling with emotion, 'Declan O'Toole has been ambushed and shot dead in Kotido.' Leaving us aghast he quickly made his way across to the students' common room to make the same dreadful announcement. Instantly a stunned silence descended on our compound as we tried to take in the full import of this tragic event. A myriad questions flashed through my mind. How was this possible? Why did it happen? What were the circumstances? Did it have something to do with Declan's involvement in promoting peace and reconciliation in Karamoja? Slowly the sequence of events emerged the next day. On Thursday March 21st 31-year-old Declan O'Toole, Irish and the youngest in age of our Mill Hill missionaries here in Uganda, was shot dead at point blank range in his car as he returned from Moroto to Kotido in the Karamoja district of North Eastern Uganda. His two companions from the mission, Patrick Longoli and Fedelis Longole, were also murdered. We received the news in Jinja late on Thursday night. It hit us like a thunderbolt from the clear blue sky. [strap line] Could you replace Fr Declan? Turn to centre pullout now. More follows I knew Declan well, from his student days in Mill Hill in the nineties, and after his ordination in 1998 I had visited him at his mission post at Panyang'ara in the diocese of Kotido in North Eastern Uganda. I admired his enthusiasm and missionary commitment as witnessed by his willingness to share the life of the semi-nomadic Karamojong people, a wild bunch of cattle herders notorious for their regular cattle rustling expeditions to neighbouring tribes. I was told once that the Karamojong have an ancestral myth expounding the value of cattle in which they state their belief that when God created the animals he gave the cows exclusively to them. So when they forcibly take the cattle of their neighbours they are only claiming back what was given to them in the first place! Not surprisingly the Karamojong are known as a warlike tribe, an image which has been highlighted by the proliferation of firearms in the area during the notoriously anarchic Amin regime in the late seventies in Uganda. Every able-bodied male in Karamoja carries a gun nowadays like someone else might carry a briefcase. It requires little imagination to understand that the massive introduction of guns among the Karamojong transformed the cattle raids into bloody affairs. The Karamojong area became synonymous with lawlessness and violence. More follows I still have vivid memories of a visit I paid to Panyang'ara, Declan's parish, a few years ago from London. On the last day of my visit Declan told me that we would start our return journey the next day very early in the morning at 4 a.m. 'Ambushes usually take place during the day, and travel during the dark is relatively safe,' he told me, 'so we make sure we pass through the danger zone before sunrise.' So off we went in the small hours of the morning. Well, I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw the first glimmer of dawn on the horizon in front of us: presumably we were safe now! 'How do you keep this up day in day out?' I asked Declan. He just smiled at me. I took that to mean: You get to know and love these people and you take these 'inconveniences' into the bargain. During the five short years that Declan served as a missionary among the Karamojong he threw himself heart and soul into the ministry of peace and reconciliation. He was an energetic member of a local peace commission mediating conflicts between local tribal groups, endeavouring to promote a culture of peace and mutual trust. He was deeply saddened by the often violent interventions of the Ugandan army in the area. The heavy handed tactics of the Ugandan military created an atmosphere of fear and deep resentment among the local people. Recently the Ugandan army had begun a campaign of disarmament of the Karamojong warriors. Although few would dispute the need to curb the proliferation of fire arms - 40,000 according to some estimates - among the Karamojong, the methods used were often felt to be counterproductive. In the beginning of March Declan witnessed one such army intervention in the large village of Nakapelimoru, part of the parish of Panayang'ara, where he served. This is how he himself in a letter to his friends described what happened there: More follows 'The incidents in which I was assaulted took place in Nakapelimoru on Saturday March 9th. The UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force, i.e. the Ugandan National Army] were on an operation of forceful disarmament. The entire village was rounded up in the early hours and assembled outside. I came across the operation by accident and yet I am a member of the sub-county disarmament task force committee set up many months ago. I approached the scene and received a fairly warm welcome from the major in charge who allowed me to watch the proceedings. What was taking place was in one word torture. People were being beaten until they admitted that they had a gun. Those who produced certificates to prove that they had already handed in a gun during the voluntary phase of the programme had their documents totally ignored while others were thrown on the ground and the owners were asked where was their second gun or their third etc. It was a terrible and pathetic scene. I was moving around the scene when a junior officer took offence with my presence and ordered his men to remove me. I protested that the major had given me permission but he only got more agitated. I realised things were getting hot so as I began to move away a soldier came up with a stick and lashed me across the back. Meanwhile four others were ready with sticks if I resisted but I just left the scene to the sound of their laughter. 'I returned back to Panyangara shaken and then proceeded to Kotido to lodge a complaint with the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) who was genuinely concerned and brought me to the barracks to make a report to the Brigadier in charge. I also reported the matter to Bishop Denis and Fr. Peter Ciaponi, our Justice and Peace man in Kotido. In late afternoon the UPDF arrived in the mission to humbly beg an apology from me and to assure me that those responsible had been arrested and would be charged with assault. More follows 'The following day I left for Kampala with two Mill Hill Missionaries and so on Monday morning I went to the Irish Embassy to make a report to the Ambassador who also was quite concerned. He took all the details and by Thursday he had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Uganda, with the Minister for Karamoja and two other ministers. The ambassador explained the feelings of the donors who are sponsoring the process of disarmament that they are unhappy with the way things are going, and what occurred to me was also mentioned. They were very embarrassed. By Friday I was back in Kotido. The incident was the talk of the entire town with people furious that a "muzungu", (white) priest, was beaten. The army are very embarrassed by the whole incident and have scaled down things for a while at least. They have also changed their tactics by involving the very committee I mentioned earlier. People have come from all over to see me since I returned, as rumours had spread that I was badly injured, while others thought that I had left the country. Karamoja is a place of rumours. So that is the situation as it stands. The President is due to visit this area next week so people are eagerly awaiting his visit. I will keep you posted of events. Please spread this around. Keep praying for us.' Little did Declan know what would happen a few days after he dispatched this message. He would be asked to pay the ultimate price for his courage and commitment to justice and peace. Three days after the tragedy two soldiers of the Ugandan army were arrested by the army, charged and tried by a hastily convened field court martial. They were found guilty of the murder of Declan and his two companions and sentenced to be executed. More follows The swift retribution meted out to the two soldiers who had pulled the trigger left many questions unanswered. Was this a botched robbery as officially suggested or had Declan's earlier protests against army brutality been a motivating factor? The Mill Hill Missionaries as well as Bishop Denis Kiwanuka of the diocese of Kotido publicly expressed their misgivings about the process of investigation and asked for a full inquiry. At the beginning of Holy Week the body of Declan was flown back to Ireland. His tragic death had stirred deep emotions in his native Galway. The circumstances of his death and his sad final homecoming received extensive media coverage in Ireland. Here in Uganda we said goodbye to him in a deeply moving Eucharistic celebration in Mbikko, the parish on the shores of Lake Victoria where Declan had served as a student in the mid 90s. The church was far too small for the number of people who came to express their grief and sympathy. The Papal Nuncio together with two bishops (Mgrs Joseph Willigers MHM and Mathias Ssekamanya) and the Mill Hill Superiors stood behind the altar. Many priests concelebrated. A few simple words of the Nuncio spoken at the end of the celebration will stay with me for a long time to come: 'Today's Gospel of the encounter of Jesus with Mary at Bethany finishes with a question: "Do you believe this?" That question is addressed to all of us. My answer is unequivocal: Yes, I do believe. I believe because I have met a young missionary, who was called Declan. And who paid the ultimate price for his commitment to peace and reconciliation.' More than a month after these tragic events the continued pressure from the Irish Government through its Ambassador in Uganda is beginning to bear fruit. President Museveni has ordered the setting up of a commission of enquiry into Declan's murder and the court martial that followed it. There is reasonable hope that the circumstances of his death and the motivation behind it will now be fully elucidated.		Index

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