MISNA’s Editor-in-Chief:
“We were terrorised that the
soldiers would kill us at any moment”

“Bullets, grenades, rockets and shots of every kind: we remained face down on the ground for an endless hour under a shower of fire. We thought we would die at any moment”. The voice of MISNA’s editor-in-chief, 43-year-old Father Giulio Albanese, was not the same.

From the telephone of the Comboni community of the Lachor Hospital, near Gulu (North Uganda), the emotion was audible and penetrated into our hearts.

“We had started talking to the rebels for about twenty minutes – continued Father Albanese – when we were plunged into what appeared to be the end of the world”.

It was however only the start, when yesterday three Comboni missionaries were caught in the middle of an extremely violent armed confrontation between government forces and the rebels of the LRA (lord’s Resistance Army).

The worst was yet to come: an over 24 hour nightmare in the hands of the government forces. “As soon as the battle ended – continued with great courage Fr. Albanese – the Ugandan soldiers slapped and beat us, accusing us of being arms dealers for Al Quaeda, incredible but true”.

Together with Fr. Albanese was 68-year-old Italian Father Tarcisio Pazzaglia, who has been in Uganda for over 35 years, and 43-year-old Spanish Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, who is a representative of the ‘justice and peace’ commission of the archdiocese of Gulu.

At that moment all three missionaries really thought it was all over. “We were sure they would kill us on the spot – continued MISNA’s director softly – we felt death a step away”. For ten minutes the soldiers held the 3 missionaries face down on the ground at machine-gun point.

“There was a wounded woman lying next to me – explained Fr. Albanese – but the soldiers threw her a couple meters away, leaving her there to die. This is the treatment they normally reserve for civilians or rebels”, denounced MISNA’s editor-in-chief. “They then decided that they could take us along and forced us to walk around 20 kilometres: six hours without food or a drop of water”.

Father Giulio adds nothing, but the journalists of his agency are well aware of the pain he must have bared due to his kidney problems.

After the long march the 3 missionaries were stripped and thrown into a shed at the military barracks of Kitgum, the closest city. “We had the continuous sensation that they would eliminate us at any moment – remembered the missionary who 4 years ago invented the Missionary Service News Agency, that ‘gives voice to the voiceless’ in the world’s South – so we invoked Father Raffaele and he protected us”.

Comboni Fr. Raffaele Di Bari was killed by the rebels 1 October 2000 a few kilometres from where the 3 missionaries were captured.

In Kitgum the three fathers were detained in a small space with no water or toilet facilities, in unspeakable conditions. “During the night we once again though our time had come”.

In the dark, with fear of their lives being taken and the support of only prayers, the three missionaries experienced on their backs the ‘methods’ used by the military to break common criminals.

Then on Thursday ulterior questioning and in the early afternoon they were transferred by helicopter to Gulu. Later in the same afternoon their confreres rushed to the barracks with basic survival provisions for the missionaries from the nearby Lachor Hospital. Then their release.

“Tomorrow (Friday) Father Pazzaglia and I will be accompanied by helicopter by the soldiers to Kitgum, while Fr. Rodriguez will remain in Gulu where he works”. Fr. Albanese will return in a few days to Italy and rush behind his MISNA desk in Rome. He will surely tells us all of this dramatic episode, but more importantly he will continue denouncing the incessant abuse, violence and injustice suffered by the populations of North Uganda and the other ‘forgotten’ outskirts of the world.

Fr. Carlos Rodriguez (L) speaks to the men in uniform

“Treated like beasts"

Nearly 24 hours without food or water, an endless march at gunpoint and a night in the military barracks “treated like beasts”.

This is the description of the detention of the 3 missionaries since yesterday in the hands of the Ugandan soldiers.

This afternoon they were transferred to the military barracks of the northern Ugandan main city of Gulu. This is where their Comboni confreres were able to visit 43-year-old Father Giulio Albanese, editor-in-chief of MISNA, 68-year-old Italian Fr. Tarcisio Pazzaglia and 43-year-old Spanish Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto and will now be able to bring some aid and provisions.

Based on first reports, Fr. Rodriguez was severely wounded to an arm by a grenade blast inside a hut where he had sought refuge during the attack. The three missionaries were meeting with the rebels of the LRA (lord’s Resistance Army) yesterday afternoon, when the government troops launched an attack.

“They have had nothing to drink for the entire day – commented a Comboni missionary from the Lachor hospital, which is providing aid to the fathers - and for this reason we have also sent a doctor to visit them, Sister Dorina Tadiello.

They survived the attack by miracle, but suffered tremendously in the following hours”. In particular the eldest of the three, Fr. Pazzaglia, suffers from heart problems. He was reportedly also visited by a Ugandan military doctor during his brief but difficult detention.

“They treated us like beasts”, Fr. Pazzaglia told Brother Elio Croce, the first to visit the 3 missionaries in the Gulu barracks.

The Combonis are now taking them some baskets with fruit and water, but also mattresses for the night and clean clothes. MISNA’s editor-in-chief suffered particularly due to the lack of water.

The 3 missionaries were with 3 local catechists at the time of their arrest by Kampala soldiers. According to military officials, the soldiers also arrested 4 rebels.

Transferred to Gulu

The three Comboni missionaries detained for the past 24 hours by the Ugandan military after being caught yesterday in an exchange of fire between the government troops and rebels of the LRA (lord’s Resistance Army), were transferred to the main northern Ugandan city of Gulu.

Among the missionaries is also the editor-in-chief of our agency, 43-year-old Father Giulio Albanese, who arrived just a few days ago in Uganda. Military authorities confirmed to our MISNA sources that the three missionaries are under arrest and will be questioned further.

The same sources also referred that Spanish Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto was lightly wounded to one arm, though it is unclear if it is a gun shot wound. Together with MISNA’s editor-in-chief and Fr. Rodriguez is also 68-yr-old Italian Fr. Tarcisio Pazzaglia, who has been in Uganda for over 35 years.

Meanwhile, action has also been taken by the Italian Embassy in Kampala, which today presented a complaint to Ugandan authorities, demanding an explanation. The Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry is also following the situation with ‘maximum attention’ and the Ugandan Embassy in Italy has been involved.

The General Curia of the Combonis in Rome has established contact with its confreres in Uganda. “We are working toward a prompt solution to the episode – explained Fr. Rafael González Ponce, general assistant of the congregation – we hope that our confreres come out of this without any problems, as we also hope for an end to the sufferance of the local population involved in this conflict”.

This morning military officials referred that the three missionaries are accused of bringing medicine to the LRA rebels. It is important to remember that the Combonis asked authorisation to the Ugandan military before organising a meeting with the rebels. According to sources in Gulu, the military now however denies ever having authorised the meeting between the missionaries and a delegation of Olum (as the rebels are called in the Acholi language), the rebel movement that has caused death and destruction in North Uganda since 1987.

Fr. Albanese and his two confreres, Fr. Pazzaglia and Fr. Rodriguez Soto, yesterday went to a secret location to meet a rebel delegation, when the group got caught in an exchange of fire between the LRA rebels and Kampala troops.

Fr. Albanese is in Uganda to gather direct testimony on the developments of a possible truce between Ugandan authorities and LRA rebels, that have incessantly targeted the northern Ugandan Acholi districts. While the 3 missionaries were meeting yesterday with the rebel delegation in a secret location in the bush, the Ugandan military launched a surprise attack.

Director of MISNA in Uganda

The MISNA news agency has been following the delicate situation in North Uganda already for a few months with particular attention.

For months we have released news and reports on deaths, kidnappings, releases, ambushes, violence, as well as the numerous attempts of mediation carried out by civil societies and religious authorities with the intent of putting an end to the violence’s in the Acholi districts.

A region tried by the constant violence of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and in which the interventions of the Ugandan regular military forces continue to be useless.

A story, that of North Uganda, that particularly sees the intervention of the missionaries from different congregations and that MISNA has the duty of following.

A duty which has taken our director, Father Giulio Albanese, on site for a few days, to gather the direct testimonies of the last developments.

In a moment in which the hopes for peace and the possibilities of reaching a ‘cease-fire’ are alternated with denials and reports of new clashes, the presence of our director is extremely important for us and for our readers, so we may all understand the situation.

Gathering testimonies of what actually is happening behind the scenes of one of the worst conflicts which continues to shock the south of the world. Going, as it is in the spirit of MISNA, to gather reports and news from the live voice of those that have “no voice”.

Gulu priest captured in battle -UPDF
As reported in The Monitor  30 August 2002

The UPDF Division 4 headquarters was last evening still holding outspoken Fr. Carlos Rodriguez and two colleagues.

They have been in detention since Wednesday when President Yoweri Museveni wrote an article in The Monitor calling Fr. Rodriguez’s views on the war in northern Uganda “misleading and erroneous.” Museveni was replying to Rodriguez’s article in The Monitor on Monday.

The army yesterday said the trio were not arrested but captured when UPDF engaged Joseph Kony’s rebels.

“In fact they are captives. They are not the ones authorised by government to talk to rebels. We did not know their mission and they did not inform any authority,” the army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said yesterday. Bantariza said the UPDF also captured four rebels in battle.

Details are scanty but the trio was put under UPDF detention Wednesday in Kitgum.
Also in detention is Fr Julius Aleamera, a priest-cum-journalist and director of Missionary News Agency, who this week delivered a laptop computer form the Pope to the Acholi peace team.

The third priest is Fr Taraciso Pazalya of Kitgum Catholic Mission. Fr Rodriguez of Minakulu Mission has been part of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) that has been at the forefront of engaging the LRA rebels in peace talks.

The co-ordinator of ARLPI, Cosmos Oriem, yesterday said, “There was lack of co-ordination and the army arrested the priests when they were going on a peace mission. We expected them to be released today but they are not.”

The Division 4 commander Col. Andrew Guti said: “We are still interrogating the two priests. We shall issue a statement.”

Defence minister Amama Mbabazi yesterday said: “Our people did not know, but they trampled over an LRA encampment and the people who were left we came to know they are priests. If these people are really priests, they will tell us how they got there.”
There was unconfirmed information that Fr. Rodriguez had bullet wounds in one of his lower limbs.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that they were arrested taking communication equipment and drugs to the rebels in Kitgum. Bantariza said no one was injured, but maintained they were captured in battle when UPDF engaged rebels.

The chairman of the ARLPI Archbishop John Baptist Odama said: “I have not yet understood what is going on. Give me some time.”

The Vicar General of Gulu Archdiocese Msgr Mathew Odongo said the Church was still waiting for official communication before coming up with a statement.

“Our vision is for peace. We are concerned about the suffering of the people. We are not promoting rebels in any way,” he said.

Fr Rodriguez has been highly critical of the UPDF’s “Operation Iron Fist” attacking its militaristic approach on the LRA. Fr. Rodriguez was part of the “Open Peace talks” held with the LRA rebels on June 17 this year. His arrest also comes after the UPDF called off its efforts to end the 16-year LRA insurgency by means of peace.

Fr. Giulio Albanese in Kampala
31 August 2002
“I just arrived in Kampala and I am well, on Monday I will be in Rome (Italy). I would like to thank the Italian Embassy in Uganda for its attention on our experience”.

Fr. Giulio Albanese, MISNA’s editor-in-chief, finally has a more relaxed voice after his dramatic ordeal with two Comboni confreres, first caught in the cross-fire of an armed confrontation between government troops and rebels of the LRA (lord’s Resistance Army) and then held over 24 hours in unspeakable conditions by the Ugandan military.

Hours of desperation and terror lived with Fr. Tarcisio Pazzaglia and Fr. Carlos Rodriguez Soto, that fortunately ended with their liberation Thursday evening.

“It was a dramatic but illuminating experience. We felt on our own backs what the people of the northern Ugandan Acholi districts experience on a daily basis. For this reason we must continue our work in giving voice to the voiceless”, continued Fr. Giulio.

“In those difficult moments the Lord watched over us in more than one occasion. But their was one moment that I will never forget – he explained – immediately after narrowly surviving the onslaught of bullets, grenades and mortar shots and fear had gripped also the faces of the soldiers that were circling and threatening us at gun point, I heard my name. Father Giulio…you are Father Giulio Albanese, said one of the soldier’s looking me straight in the eyes. Words that gave me the strength to get up and walk. It was a soldier that had attended my investiture as priest in Kampala”, remembered Fr. Giulio with emotion.

“I hope that our experience served to inform as many people as possible of the tragedy these people have been living for over 15 years”, commented Fr. Albanese after being informed of the worldwide coverage given to his dramatic experience with his two confreres.

The conversation then became personal: “So if all goes well I will see you at the office on Tuesday, I will now go rest a little. I embrace all of you”, he concluded.

“We are all waiting for you Giulio” and embrace you.

Priest To Continue Peace Talks
2 Sept 2002

FR. CARLOS Rodriguez, who was briefly held by UPDF last week, has said he will continue negotiating for peace with the LRA. Rodriguez over the weekend left Lacor Hospital, where he was treated for superficial burns he sustained during UPDF captivity on Thursday.

“I only got a slight superficial burn on my skin but it is not big. I was treated by the UPDF enroute to Gulu for Kitgum on Thursday. I went to St. Mary’s Hospital to sleep and get further treatment, which was done. I now feel better,” Rodriguez said. He added, “I have returned to the bishop’s house ready to resume work.

What happened to me was very light compared to the suffering of thousands of the Acholi people in northern Uganda in the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels for all these 16 years. This kind of incident that happened to us (three Catholic priests) is nothing compared to the peace process in Acholi,” Rodriguez said.

“We are ready to talk peace to anybody for the sake of peace to return to Acholiland,” he said.

Archbishop backs ‘captured’ priests
John Muto-ono P’Lajur & Richard M. Kavuma

‘Kitgum RDC wrote letter to rebel leader. Kitgum RDC Lt. Okot-Lapolo, military and intelligence organs were informed of last week’s meeting between three priests and LRA rebels, Archbishop John Baptist Odama has said.

Odama says the authorities also allowed the priests to take a small quantity of drugs requested for by LRA commander Toopaco Odama, also head of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, said in a press release yesterday that the three priests were wrongly accused of making unsanctioned contacts with the rebels.

“It was agreed at a meeting with the authorities on Aug. 26 that the priests would convey a letter from the RDC to Toopaco inviting him for a face to face meeting,” Odama said.

The three priests, Carlos Rodriguez, Giulio Albanese and Tarcisio Pazzaglia were arrested by UPDF soldiers on Aug. 28 while meeting rebels at Tumangu in Palabek sub-county in Kitgum.

Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi and other government and military officials have since said the priests did not have permission for the meeting. The priests have been accused of being rebel facilitators.

The army has also capitalised on a letter, written in Luo, which was found with the priests. But Odama said that even on the fateful day, the priests drove through a UPDF roadblock and informed the soldiers of their mission for peace.

While appearing on last Saturday’s “Capital Gang” talk show on Capital FM in Kampala, the Director for Information at the Movement Secretariat, Ofwono Opondo, said the mobile UPDF Unit ambushed the LRA rebels after “trailing their communication.”

Odama said the unfortunate incident should not be allowed to hamper the on-going peace process in Uganda. Reiterating an earlier statement by Gulu Vicar General, Matthew Odong, the archbishop said both government and the rebels should identify and expose the enemies of peace within their ranks.

“We do not hold this incident against those who arrested the priests and will not be deterred in our efforts by it,” Odama’s press release reads in part. The Monitor will publish the full text of Odama’s press release tomorrow. Letter to rebel leader’


Museveni Offers Kony Carrot, Stick  28 August 2002

Museveni Responds to Gulu Peace Negotiator On Kony  28 August 2002

Archbishop Odama Mediates With LRA Commanders  13 August 2002

Acholi Leaders Ask Govt to Close Protected Camps  22 August 2001

Stop Conscription, Says Forum  15 March 2000

LRA Kill 12 In Padibe Attack  7 March 2000

UPDF killed 30 children, says priest  27 May 1999
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