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InterAction (Washington, DC)March 9, 2004
Posted to the web March 9, 2004
Roger Persichino
The humanitarian situation in northern Uganda is deteriorating steadily. According to the latest update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there were 1.4 million persons displaced by the conflict in the north, including over 900,000 in the three districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader alone.
These three districts, which make up the area known as Acholiland, have been hardest hit by the conflict that has pitted the Lord's Resistance Army against the government of Uganda since 1986. Against an estimated population of about 1.1 million people, it appears that over 80 percent of Acholis are displaced, a ratio without equivalent in the world.
In the last year, an additional 500,000 persons were displaced in six districts adjacent to Acholiland. Two recent incidents highlight the insecurity displaced persons face each day. A camp in Lira District came under international attention when the LRA killed over 250 persons on Feb. 22. A week before, several displaced persons died in a fire in Pabbo camp in Gulu District.Camps in Acholiland are mostly made up of huts with thatched roofs, called Tukuls.
Families cook inside the Tukuls, with the exhaust worsening acute respiratory infections among children. Tukuls are usually very close to each other, a consequence of the lack of site planning when the camps were erected in the mid-1990s. Waste management is a problem as latrines have to be built at the periphery of camps, where utilization rates drop as people fear insecurity; refuse pits are very unevenly distributed and inadequate.Access to water is another major issue.
The safe water coverage in Gulu District camps alone is estimated at about 3.3 liters per person per day, well below the emergency threshold of 15 liters per day. The construction of water infrastructure is hampered by the rampant insecurity and by the sheer size of the displaced population. Another 630 wells are needed to meet emergency threshold levels of water supply. And maintenance problems are made more difficult because spare parts are not available for sale and household cash is used to buy food.
While malaria, diarrhea and acute respiratory infections are the three most prevalent diseases among displace persons, the delivery of health services has remained very low, in spite of efforts by the Ministry of Health and other agencies. In Katakwi district, in August 2003, as camps were being erected, paracetamol - a basic painkiller - was the only medicine available and could cost as much as 25 cents a tablet.
The prevalence of AIDS is presumed to be substantially higher among displaced persons in Acholiland than in Uganda, where the adult prevalence rate was estimated at 6.1 percent in 2001.In Gulu, the only accessible land is around the camps. Since crops cannot be rotated, production is too low to meet household needs. And a lack of employment opportunities has resulted in little cash circulation, limiting trade.
Households are dependent on the World Food Program distributions for an estimated 40 percent of their daily consumption. Uganda has the third largest displaced population in Africa - after Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After Sudan, its conflict is the second longest running on the continent - 17 � years.Uganda has become one of the most difficult environments for relief delivery.
In Gulu, camps can be accessed without military escort only 40 percent of the time on average, down to 20 percent for some camps. Even with military escorts, the WFP delivers food every six weeks on average. The situation is even worse in other districts. There has been no regular access to camps in Kitgum District for the last year and a half, with or without military escort. In Pader, and northern Lira districts, camps and/or displaced persons simply cannot be reached.
In spite of all this Museveni's NRM says there is no disaster in Northern
Matek
Roger Persichino is a desk officer with Action Against Hunger - USA. Click here to visit InterAction's website
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