Internal displacement
Between 1.8 and 2 million people are internally displaced and living in camps (about 8 per cent of the national population).
Approximately 1.2 million of these people are internally displaced in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader (representing 94 per cent of the local population).
In Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader an area the size of Belgium is now depopulated.
There are 202 IDP camps in northern Uganda, some with populations of over 60,000.
Population density in some camps is as high as 1,700 people per hectare.
50 per cent of IDPs are under the age of 15.
Mortality
Rates of violent death are three times higher than those reported in Iraq following the Allied invasion in 2003.
Crude mortality rates are more than three times higher than those recorded in Darfur in October 2005.
There are 901 excess deaths every week. This means 129 people die every day as a result of violence and conditions in camps.
Each day, 58 children under the age of five die as a result of violence and preventable diseases.
Abduction
More than 25,000 children have been abducted during the course of the war.
At times of heightened insecurity up to 45,000 children night-commute each evening to avoid abduction by the LRA.
Education
737 schools in northern Uganda (60 per cent of the total) are nonfunctioning because of the war.
250,000 children in northern Uganda receive no education at all.
Humanitarian access
80 per cent of the camps in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader cannot be accessed without military escorts.
Economic costs
95 per cent of IDPs in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader live in absolute poverty.
Cost of the war to Uganda after 20 years: $1.7bn.
Cost of the war to Uganda annually over 20 years: $85m.
The annual cost of the war is approximately equivalent to Ugandas total annual income from coffee exports.
The equivalent amount of money could provide clean, safe drinking water to 3.5 million people per year or the total population of Liberia.15
SOURCE: 'Counting the Cost: 20 years of war in northern Uganda' by CSOPNU; http://www.friendsforpeaceinafrica.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=28&Itemid=41
Ochan Otim
NB: In case you are not aware, there is a petition to stop the Northern Uganda Genocide at: http://www.petitiononline.com/savacoli/petition.html
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
