An Irish priest whose life has been threatened by armed militia in Colombia has been warned by the International Red Cross that they intend to carry out their threat.
Speaking yesterday from the Uraba region of north-west Colombia, Father Brendan Forde said IRC officials acting as mediators between government-backed forces and left-wing guerrillas told him "it was always going to be unsafe for us here".
The IRC had spoken to both factions, "and while they weren't giving any information away, what they had to say certainly wasn't encouraging," he said.
Despite the threats, Father Forde said he was determined to remain in the area as his presence was believed to give protection to the local population who were living in unarmed "peace communities".
Some 68 people have been killed in the area in the past three years. The most recent massacre was in the village of La Union on July 8th when six men, aged between 25 and 40, were selected at random and shot.
Amnesty International has blamed the attack on government-backed militia, whose involvement was suggested by the presence of a military helicopter that hovered overhead while the executions took place. It is understood the villagers had been accused of providing food and shelter to guerrillas.
Before leaving, the militia told the remaining villagers to abandon their homes and leave the area before they returned in 20 days, or they, too, would be shot.
Father Forde, who has to walk eight miles to the nearest telephone, said the villagers had been living in a constant state of fear since the attack.
"People are worried about working or planting crops too far from their homes and have set up groups to watch during the night. Yet there is a good spirit among them and they are determined to stay. This is where they have always lived," he said.
As part of his pastoral work he had been asked to join workers in the fields and accompany people on journeys in the hope that it might give them some protection from attack. He said he had also been busy with normal priestly duties and last Monday baptised three children in a remote village church. "It is important that people can celebrate in small things like that. I suppose it's a way of saying that we are here and we plan to stay."
Father Forde has worked in a number of trouble-spots in Latin America, among them El Salvador and Chile, where he came into conflict with Gen Augusto Pinochet's security forces because of his work for the poor. He said, however, he had never been in a situation like this before.
"In other places there may have been a war going on and you had to be careful what you did and where you went. But this is different, where there's a threat hanging over you every day. The uncertainty is terrible."
He said he was encouraged by the intervention of human rights agencies and Western governments on the issue. In particular, he welcomed the statement from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, expressing concern at the attack and "the increasing number of inhuman acts of violence and atrocities affecting the civilian population".
Mr Cowen said he had written about the matter to the Colombian Foreign Minister, Dr Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, and had asked the Irish Embassy in Washington to make contact with the US State Department on the situation.
"It is terribly important that this continues to be highlighted. It gives us some hope that we haven't been forgotten," said Father Forde, who was due to have moved to Costa Rica at the end of July but has now said he will not leave Colombia until December at the earliest.
