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The Monitor (Kampala)
December 22, 2003
Posted to the web December 22, 2003
Patrick O. Jaramogi
Kampala
The Acholi people face extinction if the war in northern Uganda does not end soon, an area MP has said.
"The rate at which the Acholi people are dying is enormous and if this trend goes on for the next 10 years, Acholi will be extinct," Mr Zachary Olum, the Nwoya MP, said while officiating at the Anga ma Lonyi Women's Group cultural gala at Naguru Community Hall on Saturday.
The group meets monthly to help families displaced by the war and living in Kampala.
"We people in the north don't support Kony," Olum said. "We are not mad and we are not animals with tails to support someone who kills us. The world should know this."
The MP, who also chairs the Acholi Parliamentary Group, said 10 children die each day in Kalongo hospital in Gulu.
"The children are dying due to diseases attributed to poor sanitation and hunger due to lack of food," the MP said.
The MP added that the food aid from the World Food Programme is not enough and that the living conditions in the camps for the internally displaced is pathetic.
"The congestion is not humane; apart from dying due to hunger, malaria, HIV/Aids are also killing many on top of the bullets," he said.
About 300,000 people are believed to have been killed in the 15-year-old rebellion with 20,000 abducted and another 1.2 million living in camps.
