Catholics concerned over peace in north

A Catholic missionary order has expressed concern over the prospects for peace in northern Uganda, following an incident last week in which the army arrested three Catholic priests. The three - Carlos Rodriguez Soto, Guilio Albonese and Tarcisio Pazzaglia - are members of the Comboni Missionary order and were on a peace mission to talk to the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which is active in northern Uganda. They were arrested on 28 August in the northern district of Kitgum as the army battled the LRA, and detained for 24 hours on suspicion of collaborating with the rebel group. The mission was part of the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative (ARLPI), which President Yoweri Museveni authorised in June to broker peace with the LRA. The army, which said it had received no notification of such a meeting, claimed the priests were found with drugs and documents intended for the rebel leaders. The three were released on Wednesday last week and warned against "acting contrary to the procedures governing the conduct of the peace mission", the 'New Vision' government-owned newspaper reported on Saturday. A spokesman for the Comboni Missionary order told IRIN on Monday the incident had undermined efforts by religious leaders in northern Uganda to negotiate peace with the LRA. The missionary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said army officials in Kitgum had been informed of the priests' intention to meet LRA leaders, but had failed to tell their superiors in Gulu. He said the army instead followed the priests to the place where they were to meet the LRA leaders and launched an offensive. "The fathers were followed," he said. "Otherwise how did they know where they were going to meet the rebels? They just wanted to create some confusion." He claimed the three priests were mistreated during their captivity in Kitgum. The Ugandan government has expressed regret over the incident.