New Year Peace Message of the Religious Leaders of Acholi

[anb-bia <anb-bia@village.uunet.be>]

ANB-BIA Brussels 30/12/2000

Many thanks to MISNA's SERVICES

Paolo
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A New Year Peace Message
of the Religious Leaders of Acholi

HAVE HOPE FOR PEACE!

Dear people of God, our brothers and sisters:

Praise be to our merciful God, who is always with us in our trials. We 
greet all of you, who have just celebrated the religious feasts of 
Christmas and Idd El-Fitr.

With this religious spirit, we meditate on our lives in the present 
circumstances and realise that there are moments in which we feel that we 
are "passing through deep waters... passing through fire and hard trials" 
(Isaiah 43:2). These are times in which in the midst of deep anguish our 
faith makes us hear God's voice telling us again and again, "Do not be 
afraid, I am with you!"(Isaiah 43:5). This is very much our case, in 
Acholi, at the end of the year 2000. We all remember that in 1999 we 
enjoyed a long period of relative peace and expectations were high, after 
Uganda and Sudan signed a peace agreement, the Khartoum government 
announced that our children in captivity were going to be released, and 
Parliament passed the Amnesty Law. Peace seemed to be at hand, at last; but 
hopes vanished quickly after a new incursion of rebels shortly before 
Christmas and it became evident that some promises were not fulfilled. Ever 
since we have been living once again in fear and misery and we have had to 
realise that it takes more than a piece of paper to attain real peace.

The last few months have been particularly trying for all of us. We 
remember the tragic death of our courageous and beloved Fr. Raphael Di Bari 
in his mission of Pajule, the attack on Gulu on the night of the 9th 
October, which left sixteen people killed, and the many ambushes, killings 
and abductions which have been going on. Many of our people continue to 
live in the misery of the displaced camps and despite some commendable 
local and international efforts we don't see any concrete signs indicating 
that the end of the war is near. The situation has been aggravated by the 
Ebola epidemic, which has claimed the lives of many of our people.

In these sad circumstances, the words of Jesus "Come to me all you who are 
overburdened and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28) seem to have been 
said particularly for our people, who are very much in need of real hope 
for peace. As religious leaders we are writing to you to give you this 
hope, since a true believer can never be pessimistic, no matter how much 
suffering we see around us! It is therefore considering our life as God's 
children that we would like to point at some aspects of our situation in 
order to propose some ways out.

1.	We denounce the scandal of those making big profits out of this war. It 
is with a very heavy heart that we see how this continuous insecurity has 
become an easy way of life for some unscrupulous individuals who are making 
fortunes out of innocent people who have been robbed or killed. As pastors, 
we have to raise our voices, since we seem to be living in a situation 
similar to the time of the prophet Micah, who cried out against those who 
"build Zion on a foundation of blood, Jerusalem with crime" (Micah 3:10). 
The Moslem Scriptures, too, teach us: "Remember when you took your 
covenant: Shed not the blood of your people" (Verse 84 Baqarah). We call on 
these profiteers to repent of their grave sin and make serious amendment 
and reparation, and we call on all people of good will to play a role in 
changing the hearts of those who, in different ways, are benefiting from 
the suffering of our innocent people.


2.	We shall never tire of proclaiming that conversion and forgiveness is 
the only way out of this war. "The recompense for an evil is an evil, but 
whoever forgives and makes reconciliation his reward is with God" Sura 40). 
When the Amnesty Law was passed we were very happy and announced 
immediately that we were ready to give our full co-operation. One year 
later we have to commend our people for generally keeping their spirit of 
forgiveness, and at the same time we have to make an appeal our rebel 
brothers and sisters: Violence is never the solution to any conflict or 
problem, you should stop fighting and accept to be reintegrated into a 
normal life. Do not respond to people's willingness to forgive with further 
aggressions, but repent for your sins and change your lives, for God "does 
not want the death of a sinner, but his conversion so that he may live" 
(Ezekiel 18:23). We call on you once again to report to any religious 
leader in any locality easily accessible to you, or to pass to us any 
serious message you may have for a peaceful resolution of this armed 
rebellion. We appeal also to the Government of Uganda to speed up the 
Amnesty process by urgently facilitating the Amnesty Commission on the 
ground and to put in place the Demobilisation and Resettlement team.

3.	People have suffered enough in the displaced camps and they should be 
helped to go back to their homes. About half of our population still lives 
in these miserable settlements which were started four years ago and that 
hardly match their official name of "protected villages", since people have 
often been killed or abducted in attacks on these camps. The ugly picture 
of thousands of people in danger of losing their good cultural values, 
their moral fibre and their family life makes us wonder if there cannot be 
more humane ways of protecting people in their homes, while making use of 
their God-given land. There should be no more delay in dismantling the 
camps and enabling people to return to their homes.

4.	Let us show special care to our children, who have become the main 
victims of this war. Children are the joy of our homes and our future. When 
children are brutally victimised the joys and hopes of our families are 
being destroyed. Efforts made at international level seem to be making 
little headway, and the sad fact remains that thousands of children are 
still in captivity, mainly in Sudan. Once again, we appeal to the LRA to 
release all of them quickly and unconditionally, and we appeal to the 
international community to intervene to ensure the return of all our 
children from Sudan. At the same time, we want to express our concern about 
returned abducted children who have been held in military installations for 
months, adding to their trauma and to the suffering of their parents. We 
hope there will be no more cases of this kind. Children who have gone 
through the painful experience of abduction and have escaped or been 
rescued must not be allowed to join the Local Defence Units. Those who are 
under age in these units should be demobilised at once. In this connection, 
we have a special word of encouragement to school teachers: Your role in 
rehabilitating children who have become victims of violence is extremely 
important, as well as in educating the younger generations in the value of 
peace. Do not get tired of doing this.


5.	The poverty of our people cries out to heaven. Ordinary people have to 
bear a lot of violence and at the same time are victims of a sinful 
economic system that pays them less for the fruit of their hard work and 
charges more for essential commodities. Transport has become very costly 
and travelling extremely risky. How can people living in these 
circumstances support their children in school and look forward to a better 
future? Despite many promises of development and rehabilitation, we still 
remain the poorest part of Uganda, though our people are hardworking and 
development-minded. In this respect, we would like to advise our farmers to 
come together in associations to sell their produce at a fair price, so as 
to avoid exploitation by unscrupulous businessmen. In the midst of this 
painful picture we cannot but express our deep gratitude to some groups who 
are sincerely dedicated to improving the life conditions of our people. We 
very much appreciate various efforts put in place by NGOs, religious 
bodies, Government programmes and the international community groups who 
are sincerely dedicated to improving the living conditions of our people.

6.	Let our country be a true promoter of peace. Looking at a wider picture 
of the situation, we realise that much of the Great Lakes Region and the 
Horn of Africa has for some years now been turning into a huge battlefield 
in which thousands of people are dying for the sake of international 
economic interests. Our situation in Northern Uganda is part of this 
complex situation. As believers in God, we cannot stop proclaiming that 
ours is a God of life, who wants His children to live in peace. It is in 
this respect that we want to state clearly that:

- We add our voices to what has been said many times before by different 
bodies in this country and internationally that Uganda should withdraw all 
UPDF troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

- As far as some domestic conflicts are concerned, we state that we cannot 
support the distribution of guns to civilians for their self-defence as a 
means to solve problems with neighbouring communities. In this respect we 
are happy to tell you that ARLPI has been involved for several months now 
in trying to solve the conflict with our Karimojong (Jie) neighbours by 
peaceful means, offering our mediation. We ask you to support us with your 
prayers so that this dry season may not be like the last one, in which more 
than eighty people were killed in Kitgum district.

7.	Ebola has hit us deeply, but we can learn from this experience. The 
outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in October left us wondering why we should 
still have to bear this terrible extra burden. In such circumstances we 
have to draw strength from our faith in God. Far from falling into despair, 
we want to tell you that there are at least two important lessons that we 
have been able to learn from this new plague:

- In the first place, it is amazing and most commendable the way people 
united in their response against Ebola. Even though we are not yet 
completely out of it, if we continue with this spirit we shall definitely 
overcome it. Why can't we respond in the same way to the "virus" of brutal 
violence which has survived in Acholiland for more than fourteen years now: 
all united and determined in a group effort, tirelessly, against war and 
for peace.

- Secondly, we have to draw a deep lesson from our twelve medical personnel 
who perished in the course of their dedication to the sick. We have to 
remember in a very special way our dear Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, medical 
superintendent of Lacor Hospital, who gave his life for the poorest of our 
people. His death, like the one of Christ, was in order to give life, and 
made us remember that in the saddest of circumstances God always brings 
forth people who show us the way to follow. We are still going through 
difficult times of violence, but there is a way out and we can have hope in 
peace, because our God is a caring God.

Conclusion

Our final appeal goes to our leaders. Be united among yourselves in giving 
this real hope for peace to the people you are meant to serve, and use a 
language of conciliation and appeal, according to the spirit of the 
Amnesty. Also to the LRA: once again we call on you to co-operate with the 
people and join us in overcoming this violence once and for all. Trust the 
good will of the local population, who are ready to forgive the evil of the 
past and accept you back.

We greet you warmly in the name of God and assure you of our solidarity 
with all of you.

Gulu, 30th December, 2000



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Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng. Northern Uganda Diocese, Church of Uganda.

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Archbishop John Baptist Odama, Catholic Archdiocese of Gulu.

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Sheikh Musa Khalil, District Khadi Moslem Community Gulu

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Bishop McLeord Baker Ochola II. Kitgum Diocese, Church of Uganda

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Mgr. Matthew Ojara, Episcopal Vicar Catholic Church Kitgum Vicariate.

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Sheikh Dehiya Shafi,, Kitgum District Khadi, Moslem Community.