Uganda: Unicef Executive Director to Visit Northern Uganda
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
May 13, 2004
Posted to the web May 13, 2004
Kampala
The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is set to visit
northern Uganda at the end of May in an effort to raise the profile of women and
children suffering in "one of Africa's longest and most brutal civil conflicts".
Carol Bellamy will arrive in Uganda on 25 May and will shortly after travel to
northern Uganda's troubled district of Lira to visit camps for internally displaced
persons (IDPs). She will also visit child rehabilitation centres in neighbouring Gulu
town and inaugurate two new permanent UNICEF offices in the north, officials said.
Chulho Hyun, a UNICEF spokesman, told IRIN in the capital, Kampala, on Thursday: "The
main focus is definitely on the impact of the conflict. Ms Bellamy will be drawing
attention to the plight of the IDPs, which is growing increasingly acute."
Until recently, UNICEF had no permanent office in northern Uganda. In the last six
months, however, two have been set up, one in Gulu, another in Kitgum - a town nearer
to the border with Sudan in the war-affected part of Uganda.
The UN estimates that 1.6 million people have been displaced by the 18-year war
between government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - a cult-like
guerilla movement led by a mystic recluse, Joseph Kony.
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Civilians fleeing LRA attacks have been forced to live in various camps scattered
across the region. But the LRA have on several occasions attacked IDPs camps, killing
residents and abducting scores of children for forcible recruitment as soldiers,
porters and sex-slaves.
Hyun added: "Compared with three years ago, there has been a trebling of numbers
displaced. Her [Bellamy's] visit is an opportunity for her to see this [at] first
hand." She is also scheduled to address a meeting of the African Development Bank and
visit educational projects in western Uganda.
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