UGANDA 28/6/2004 17:49 PARLIAMENT COMMISSION ISSUES TOLL OF NORTH CRISIS Peace/Justice, Standard Over 8,000 children have been abducted in North Uganda in the past 12 months by the rebels of the LRA (lordæ Resistance Army). This is the most preoccupying toll that emerged from a report drawn up by the National Commission for security and humanitarian affairs of the Ugandan parliament, presented in the past days to the Kampala parliamentarians. The report in fact adds that based on estimates, since the start of the conflict in North Uganda, æetween 20,000 and 25,000 children?have ended up in the hands of the rebels. Also explaining that æhe boys are indoctrinated and transformed into combatants, while the girls become sex slaves of the rebel commanders? Adding that they are both used as carriers, sent to the front line in clashes with the armed forces and to æommit all sorts of atrocities against the local communities of the North? Based on the report, the available data does not consent an exact toll of the damages caused by the North Ugandan crisis, though the mere financial cost for the Acholi amounts to around $1,3-billion. But the damages caused by the rebels continue even in their absence, consuming the lives of the hundreds of thousands forced to live in displaced camps afflicted by a serious lack of food and overcrowding. The Parliamentary Commission report estimates that to feed the 1.5-million displaced crowded in the camps of the North the nation would need $340,000 a day. æhe lack of food is a priority? underlines the report adding that the WFP (World Food Programme) has informed the commission of possible interruptions in aid distribution in the next months. From May to December 102,000 tonnes of food in the value of $54-million risk not being consigned. In conclusion the commission reiterates its request for the declaration of North Uganda as a disaster zone. Since 1986, the armed gangs headed by Joseph Kony (which include a large number of child-soldiers) have been reaping death and destruction in the northern zones of the nation, without the government of Kampala succeeding in halting the violence on a military level, nor on a negotiation level. The conflict has so far resulted in an estimated 100,000 victims, 25,000 minors abducted and over 1-million (1,500,000 according to some sources, displaced. [BO]
