Kampala — Reports that the Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony has ordered the killing of all priests in northern Uganda are alarming.

It is not the first time that the LRA have issued such threats. The difference this time round is that the credibility of the report has been strengthened by the use of the Catholic Church's own local radio network.

We cannot understand why religious leaders, let alone ordinary civilians, should become a prime target of any rebel group. While it is obvious that no one, including the priests, is really safe from atrocities in the war-torn region, specifically targeting priests amounts to a witch-hunt of God's servants, which is unacceptable.

Indeed, Catholic Church missions have been targeted in this conflict before, which explains the abduction of dozens of seminarians only two weeks ago. Any attempt to exacerbate this kind of action must be condemned.

Religious leaders are merely God's messengers who should be protected by a rebel force that once claimed to be fighting so that Uganda can be governed according to the Ten Commandments.

It is ironical that religious leaders who have been fighting tooth and nail to find a lasting solution to the insurgency through negotiations should be targeted. Yet in the past, there have been reports that Mr Kony wanted the Catholic Church in particular to play a more active role in the peace process.

The latest threat comes at a time of renewed hostilities. The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) appears to have failed and we are now back to square one. The killings and abductions have resumed at an even greater scale than before.

Even more worrying are reports that the Sudan government has resumed providing covert military assistance to the Kony rebels contrary to the spirit of the bilateral protocols signed by the two countries in the wake of the UPDF's Operation Iron Fist.

The destruction of life and property in northern Uganda has gone on for far too long. This is the time, especially for the LRA rebels, to put an end to the carnage.