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JUSTICE AND PEACE NEWS.

A NEWSLETTER OF THE JUSTICE & PEACE COMMISSION OF GULU ARCHDIOCESE (UGANDA)

JULY 2005.

CONTENTS

1. EDITORIAL
2. A STORY WITHOUT HOPE?
3. ADJUMANI. THE FORGOTTEN “EAST NILE” DISTRICT
4. HIGHLIGHTS
5. GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY
6. ACTIVITIES OF OUR JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION
7. RECENT CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

1. EDITORIAL. FEAR OF SPIRITS, SYMPTOM OF DESPERATION

A bizarre event, unreported by the Press, has dominated Kitgum during June. For weeks panic has gripped thousands of people, who assured that a strange spirit tormented people at night causing them great pain. For several nights a chorus of people wailing could be heard in town and surrounding areas. The fear spread in other displaced camps too. The problem became so serious that several humanitarian organisations dealing with night commuters had to provide extra counselling to calm children down before sleep. Even district leaders called for a rally to deal with the issue.

Traditional beliefs in spirits are not new in Acholi, and for good or for bad they have been for generations a part of its cultural heritage. What is new, and surprising, is this phenomenon that could be best described as mass psychosis, or a powerful indicator of the degree of desperation people have reached.

After so many years of inhuman life in IDP camps, wanton killings, mass abductions, hunger, disease and intimidation, it is only understandable that people are broken inside and have lost hope in the future. This is a breeding ground for all kinds of irrational fears, which can easily spread fast.

This fact should make us all reflect seriously. Particularly for us, followers of Christ who came to set us free from all forms of slavery, it should be a call not to falter in the struggle for peace and human dignity. The downtrodden of Northern Uganda need good Samaritans ready to listen to their cry and restore their lost human dignity.

2. A STORY WITHOUT HOPE?

Alvaro Ybarra, a journalist from Spain’s leading daily ABC and a renowned photographer, toured parts of Gulu and Kitgum districts from 8^th to 16^th June. The excellent pictures that feature in this July issue are his courtesy. His professional practice has taken him over the years to some other conflict areas of the world like Colombia, Chechnya, Bosnia, Sudan (Darfur), DR Congo and Kashmir. Before leaving Uganda he agreed to write this very personal piece for us.

Being quite familiar with some other world’s hot spots, like Chechnya, Colombia, or Sudan, I must say that at least in these conflicts there are some economic, strategic or simply ideological issues lying underneath. However, Northern Uganda’s most outstanding characteristic is its sheer lack of logic. This absence of reason continues to feed the meaningless conflict that has been killing human beings in this strikingly beautiful land for the last 19 years. This is the only conclusion I have reached after days of having a close look at this humanitarian disaster, which continues to make its way down a path of non-return.

One cannot but be puzzled by the one and a half million internally displaced persons packed in camps which remind us of the “gulags” of the time of Stalin; or by the 30,000 children abducted by a terrorist group led by a sick mind who has deprived Acholi of a generation of souls. To top it all, it is hard to understand the international community’s neglect and indifference for so many years, which has relegated this conflict to a nameless forgotten corner.

As a foreign journalist, I feel like looking into all these persons’ eyes and simply ask them their forgiveness for having abandoned them, nay, for not having considered them important enough to feature in the world news. Our immediate job of writing or broadcasting the latest news often makes us forget the essence of our profession as journalists, which should make us look at these innocent persons not just as mere stories, but as real human beings.

Unfortunately, that is what so often we have presented to the world: stories written in simplistic and sensationalistic fashions. During the last two years, for instance, we have directed our attention almost exclusively to the “night commuter” children, a topic which has fed many stories on Northern Uganda, at the expense of sidelining the reality of 1.5 million displaced whom we seem to have decided of late that they are no longer important news.

Before leaving Uganda, a friend of mine asked me to write my thoughts about this war. I must say that I feel overwhelmed by my thoughts and that, for the first time in my career, I have felt ashamed while using my camera, not only because of the international community’s neglect, but also because so often we journalists have oversimplified this war, making it appear just as a story without hope. 

3. ADJUMANI. THE FORGOTTEN “EAST NILE” DISTRICT

(by Lam Oryem Cosmas. JPC Consultant)

Adjumani was created as a district out of Moyo in 1997. Prior to its elevation to a district status, it was known as ‘East Moyo’ county. Adjumani is normally considered within the “West Nile’ region, but it’s geographically located East of the Nile. Adjumani has five sub-counties and four of them; Dzaipi, Pakele, Ofoa and Ciforo borders Gulu district, a distance of about 105km. As a neighbour to Gulu district, ravaged by the senseless atrocities committed by the so called ‘Lords Resistance Army’ (LRA). Adjumani is similarly  affected by this carnage. However, the difference is that whereas focus and attention relieving the suffering due LRA is concentrated in Acholi and adjacent Lango sub-regions, Adjumani in Madi sub-region, does not have similar attention. For instance, there are over 15,000 internally displaced persons in Dzaipi. The only difference with those in Acholi, Lango and Teso is that they are not in “protected villages” or camps.

One would think that since the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has a sub-office in Pakele, the people there are being supported. However, this not the case. WFP’s mandate is with refugees from Sudan and not with the local nationals. The food they sometimes get are just on humanitarian grounds and not an obligation of WFP.

I hear that the USAID founded “Community Resilience and Dialogue” (CRD) programme has also withdrawn its support in this region.

Caritas Gulu Archdiocese is implementing NAADS projects in three sub-counties Adropi, Ofoa and Ciforo with one hundred farmers in each. As part of the support besides training, from 13 – 15 June 2005, Caritas distributed pangas and axes to each of the farmers. This was after realizing during earlier visits that farmers use to spend up to 30 minutes running around to borrow such implements from among themselves.

As we move, as a Northern region and as a nation to explore ways and means to stop the LRA violence and atrocities being managed by the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and building infrastructure for sustainable reconciliation and peace building, there is need for concerted effort to address the immediate effects and consequences of the LRA incursions and destruction in Adjumani district as a matter of urgency. These could include food and non food items, medicine and psycho-social support to children who escape and or rescued from rebel ranks who return to their communities without any counseling or support. The local community too, need to be prepared, helped and supported to deal with the traumatic situation.

The Justice, Peace & Human Rights Commission of Arua Diocese is engaging local communities in the affected areas to provide proactive responses together with neighbouring sub-counties in Gulu district. It has formed ‘Justice & Peace Committees” in sub-counties like Dzaipi for this purpose.

4. HIGHLIGHTS

• Forced labour at roadblocks is back. In our travel around Kitgum and Pader districts we have witnessed how on almost all main roads travellers are routinely stopped by Army personnel at checkpoints (usually every two or three kilometres), given a slasher, hoe or axe and forced to clear the bushes. While we applaud the policy of keeping security at roads deploying soldiers and denying the rebels cover for ambushes, it must be remembered that not all means are morally acceptable. This kind of forced labour is a degrading and unacceptable practice that MUST BE STOPPED immediately.
• Most displacement in the North was forced, Gen. Ali. In a recent interview to the UN news agency IRIN, the Ugandan deputy Prime Minister who is also the Minister for Refugees, Lt. Gen Moses Ali, declared that “The displaced camps were not formed by the government, but they were a result of residents in the north and east spontaneously moving close to the UPDF bases in those areas in search of better security than they had in their homes”.  Either Moses Ali wants to cover up essential facts or he doesn’t have a very good memory. Most camp dwellers in Gulu remember how in 1996 the Army force them out of their homes and those who resisted were beaten or their villages bombed. And in September 2002 the UPDF made a radio broadcast giving people a 48-hour ultimatum to quit their homesteads. Anybody can go and ask people in IDP camps in Northern Uganda. They have a better memory. And are more truthful.
• New Uganda budget focuses on poverty alleviation. Uganda has committed some US $ 86.6 million to the agricultural sector to help reduce poverty among the country’s rural poor through better agricultural practices and improved market access. The new budgetary allocation for agriculture market a 29 percent increase in this sector.

Agriculture is Uganda’s main source of foreign income, and the means by which the majority of the population earn a living. 

• A cross section of Acholi leaders held a meeting at Paraa. The event, which took place on 24^th and 25^th June, was attended by cultural leaders, elders, MPs, district political leaders and religious ministers, and it aimed at solving internal wrangles among leaders in Acholiland. Given the worrying signals of political conflict in the country this move was welcome. Ending the violence in Acholi requires, first of all, unity among the civil society and mutual respect among people of different political shades. Our Kampala-based consultant Lam Cosmas was also there representing our Commission.
• The issuing of arrest warrants against Kony by the International Criminal Court (ICC) seems imminent. By mid-June the The-Hague-based court was determined to issue at least indictments against Joseph Kony and another top-LRA commander (presumably Vincent Ottii). Last March the chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo received several delegations from Northern Uganda to learn more about their point of view. Despite some on-and-off phone contacts between mediator Betty Bigombe and Kony, no new peace meetings have taken place and the LRA has continued to kill innocent civilians mercilessly every time it had a chance. If the arrest warrants are finally issued we can only hope that it will be for the better, de-escalating the violence and not increasing it.

5. GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY

During the second half of this year, 2005, three important events will take place that have the potential to make poverty history:

• Thee G-8 Summit will take place on July 6-8 in Edinburg, Scotland. Leaders of the world’s wealthiest countries will meet to discuss global economic challenges
• On September 14-16, at a special high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly, heads of states and governments will evaluate progress towards meeting the goals set forth in the Millenium Declaration of 2000, in which the largest-ever gathering of heads of state committed countries to doing all they can to eradicate poverty.
• The Sixth Ministerial Conference on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will meet in Hong Kong December 13-18 to discuss international trade regulations.

These events have the potential to make poverty history. We believe that this can happen through:

• Trade justice
• Debt cancellation (a good step was already taken in June with the cancellation to 18 heavily-indebted countries, among them Uganda)
• A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid.
• National efforts to eliminate poverty.

For us Catholics it is highly significant that these events take place durint this Eucharistic Year. In his apostolic letter, Mane Nobiscum Domine, John Paul II wrote:

Can we not make this Year of the Eucharist an occasion for diocesan and parish communities to commit thelselves in a particular way to responding with fraternal solicitude to one of the many forms of poverty present in the world? I think for example of the tragedy of hunger which plagues hundreds of millions of human beings, the diseases which afflict the developing countries, the loneliness of the elderly, the hardships faced by the unemployed, the struggles of immigrants. These are evils which are present even in areas of immense wealth. We cannot delude ourselves: by our mutual love and in particular by our concern for those in need we will be recognised as true followers of Christ. This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged (n. 28)

To learn more, you can visit the website www.fighthunger.org.

6. OUR ACTIVITIES

• A refresher course for our Gulu paralegals took place at the Catechist Centre from 25^th to 28^th May. Usually these courses take place four times a year.
• Our chairman, Fr. Cyprian Ocen, and our new Pader staff held another training for paralegals from Namokora and Patongo Parishes at Kalongo from 6^th to 10^th June. That week was particularly difficult for us, with frequent shootings at night and attempts by LRA to disturb on the roads. A rebel officer was killed during a battle with the Army on the 10^th. Despite that tension, our Kalongo office is active now and we expect our new paralegals to make a difference in their Parishes, where people continue to experience so many hardships.
• A good number of journalists and foreign delegations have visited Acholi during June. Fr. Cyprian took part in a meeting with the Netherlands Minister of Defence on June 13. Keeping Northern Uganda on the international agenda is an important part of our ministry.

• Other forthcoming events.

*Commission meeting in Gulu (Comboni Missionary Animation Centre) on     June 27.

*Meeting of the Justice and Peace Commissions of the Northern      Ecclesiastical Province. It will take place in Arua from June 28 to July 1. It is the first time that we shall meet from the dioceses of Nebbi, Gulu, Lira and Arua.

*Gathering of religious leaders from Northern Uganda and South Sudan. This event, organised by our Justice and Peace Commission of Gulu, will take place in Nimule (Sudan) from 1^st to 5^th August. It will be a follow-up of similar conventions which took place in Gulu on 2001, 2003 and 2004, although this year it will have a special tone since Sudan is now enjoying peace at last. We hope our peace in Northern Uganda will not take too long.

• We don’t forget to warmly welcome the new bishop of Lira, Joseph Franzelli.  An Italian Comboni Missionary, Fr. Franzelli, aged 63, worked 16 years in Kitgum and Patongo. He left Uganda in 1987 after his Parish was forcibly closed down and ever since he worked in the on-going formation of missionaries. He is known for his simplicity and jovial spirit and we are sure he will be a great partner in the work for peace. He will be consecrated bishop at Lira on July 9^th.

CHRONOLOGY OF RECENT EVENTS. MAY – JUNE 2005.

MAY 2005.

26th – A woman who had come to collect grass was killed by rebels at her village in Obem (Kitgum).

27th – Rebels hacked to death 8 people and displayed them on the road at Parwec, in Kitgum Matidi.

           The Amnesty Commission started delivering resettlement packages for a backlog of 7,000 former rebels. They held the first ceremony at Rwot Acana’s headquarters in Gulu.

30th – Thirteen children were abducted by rebels at Abwoch village (Gulu). All of them returned on the following day.

31st – UPDF soldiers injured two young men at Koc Goma.

           The WFP Uganda director Ken Davies warned of the food supply for IDPs running dry in June. He said that the humanitarian disaster in Northern Uganda was worse than the one caused by the tsunami.

JUNE 2005.

1st – A LDU soldier from Amida camp raped a woman. He was arrested on the following morning and detained at the Kitgum Police station.

2nd – Rebels ambushed a lorry near Ocetokke, (Kitgum-Padibe road) and killed one soldier.

3rd – Rebels attacked Pajule centre and looted some foodstuffs.

6th – A Caritas staff escaped unhurt after he was ambushed by rebels at Paiula (Pader).

9th – Rebels attacked the Army detach at YY Okot College in Kitgum at midnight in an attempt to loot food. They were repulsed.

         A soldier from Lacor Seminary Detach raped a 15-year old girl.

10th – Rebels infiltrated Kalongo IDP to loot foodstuff. The Army responded and killed one of them.

11th – Two soldiers were killed by rebels at Lakwor, near Kitgum Matidi.

12th – Reports that the chief prosecutor of the ICC was about to sign the arrest warrants for Kony and another top LRA leader.

13th – Rebels killed two young men in Akara (Mucwini).

14th – An elderly man who had gone to uproot cassava from his garden at Opete (7km from Kitgum town) was abducted and killed by rebels.

16th – Rebels killed three women in Lapul (Pader).

20th – Rebels killed four people in Lanyatongo (Pader).

21st – UPDF killed LRA Col. Opiro Anaka in a battle at his village in Nwoya county.

24th – 25th - Acholi political, religious and cultural leaders held a retreat at Paraa lodge.

25th – Rebels killed an elderly man who had gone to dig his field at Lamit (Kitgum).

           Rebels attacked Agoro IDP.

REPORT FOR THE MEETING HELD IN PARAA BY ACHOLI LEADERS