Irish Priest is shot dead in Uganda

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday March 23, 2002 10:02 by Joram

An Irish Missionery gets killed by unknown gunmen in Uganda

Gunmen yesterday killed an Irish Catholic priest, the Rev. Fr. Michael Otoole Declan , his driver, Patrick Longoli and his cook, Fidele Longole.Declan was attached to the Panyangara Catholic Parish, Kotido(Uganda). He was ambushed at Kalosaric, three kilometres from a UPDF(Uganda Army) barracks on Moroto-Kotido road. Declan had travelled to Moroto(NE uganda) to renew his driver’s permit and left for Kotido late in the evening.

The gunmen stopped the vehicle and killed all of them on the spot. Karamoja Regional Police Commander Joseph Opio said, “The priest and his workers were killed yesterday. I have just got a radio message from Kotido Police confirming the incident.” Opio also said another vehicle, UAA 40 2Y belonging to the Church of Uganda, Karamoja, which was travelling from Kotido, was also ambushed at the same spot. The driver, William Okot, refused to stop and the thugs riddled his vehicle with bullets.

Okot, now admitted to Matany Hospital, was shot through the back and sustained multiple injuries.
Moroto local chief Terence Achia was horrified by the news. “How can I work with all these continuous atrocities. Government machinery is failing me because we are supposed to make immediate follow-up of these criminals.”

Meanwhile a UPDF Captain has gone missing in southern Sudan following the Wednesday raid on Sudan People’s Armed Forces (SPAF) units in Nisitu and Jabeni by Kony rebels(Uganda Christian Fundamentalists Forces)), the army said yesterday.
that the unidentified officer was one of half a dozen UPDF(uganda Army) liaison officers in Sudan government-held areas of southern Sudan. The officers were overseeing the implementation of the protocol Uganda and Sudan signed in Khartoum on March 5. The protocol empowered the UPDF to pursue Kony rebels inside Sudan.

“The officer is missing. We suspect he may be in the jungles along with other Sudanese government soldiers. He could also be heading towards rebel SPLA controlled parts of Sudan,” army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said yesterday.
The missing officer was a colleague of the UPDF’s Fourth Division public relations officer, Capt. Khelil Magara, who died of shock and heart attack as he fled a Kony attack near Juba town on Wednesday. Magara, who had a heart disease, first went into a coma. He died for lack of medical attention.
Other UPDF liaison officers are said to be safe, but as many as 20 SPAF soldiers are still missing.

Khelil Magara is the second UPDF officer to die in Sudan in less than a month. An unidentified captain and two other soldiers were killed on March 1 while pursuing Uganda rebels inside Sudan.
On March 23, rebels raided Agoro sub-county in Lamwo county in Kitgum.

The territory about 50kms southwest of Juba city is controlled by Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) who have been forced to declare a ceasefire with Sudan government to allow the protocol to work.
In the LRA(Lords Resistance Army) raid, SPAF lost a colonel, a major and lieutenant along with nearly two dozen soldiers. Nine rebels were killed.
The attack was the first significant clash between LRA and their former mentors. Sudan government has financed, trained and protected LRA for years.
On March 5, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement saying the LRA has abducted nearly 10,000 children from northern Uganda and herded them to Sudan to be used as soldiers or sex slaves and porters. Thousands of them are believed to have died in captivity.
A registration system supported by UNICEF put the number of abducted children missing at 5,555.