----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elum Aniap Godfrey Ayoo 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Cc: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 11:15 PM
Subject: LIRA: "DEFEND OUR PEOPLE FROM THE REBELS", APPEAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO GOVERNMENT 

Ugandan authorities have the duty to protect the entire civil population living in the northern Ugandan districts, where the rebels of the LRA (lord's Resistance Army) reap death and destruction": as underlined in a note issued today by the Lango Religious Leaders Forum (LRLF), the cartel that unites the leaders of all the different religious confessions present in the Apac and Lira districts, populated by the Lango ethnic group. If the government is not capable of guaranteeing the safety of the people, with its armed forces, "it has the moral obligation to request the intervention of an international peacekeeping force, under the aegis of the United Nations", continued the note. In expressing condolences to the families of the victims of the Abia massacre - carried out last Wednesday and widely covered by MISNA - the religious leaders reminded that solidarity and spiritual communion among the faithful grow in the moments of trial. The LRLF note, signed by its chairman, Anglican Bishop John Odurkami, also emphasises the humanitarian emergency afflicting hundreds of thousands of Lango displaced, particularly in the eastern sector of the district of Lira. The rebels of the LRA, headed by Joseph Kony, a crazy visionary for years supported by Khartoum, have been active in the northern districts of Uganda since the late 80's, abducing over 25-thousand children forcedly recruited into the ranks of the armed movement. 
[BO]

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