Missionary killed in the troubled north
KAMPALA, 31 Mar 2004 (IRIN) -
The Roman Catholic missionary community in northern Uganda says
it is "saddened and shocked" by the murder of a
76-year-old Catholic priest at his home in the troubled region
on Wednesday night.
According to local sources, the assailants forcibly entered the
home of the Italian priest, Father Luciano Fulvi, in a mission
on the outskirts of Gulu town, 280 km north of the capital,
Kampala, before slitting his throat with a penknife. Students at
a technical college attached to Fulvi's mission found his body
after he failed to appear for church activities in the morning.
They also found two knives in the courtyard surrounding his
house.
The attack follows the killing of two American missionaries in
Yumbe District, 150 km northwest of Gulu, by armed bandits
operating there.
Northern Uganda has suffered banditry and unrest for the past 18
years, mostly at the hands of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),
which frequently attacks villages, refugee camps, trading
centres and missions.
Father Eliah Timtaloni, priest of Gulu Cathedral, however said
it was unlikely for the LRA to have been involved. "It was
probably a thief," he told IRIN.
Timtaloni said 15 Catholic missionaries had been killed in
northern Uganda since the war began, most of them in rebel
ambushes or other situations involving groups carrying firearms.
"This is the first time a priest has had his throat slit
with a knife," he said. "Everybody is in shock,"
he added. "We haven't had time to deal with this. We have
always felt that in this place there is so much senseless
violence."
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