Army Stops Escorting Aid Workers in the
North UN Integrated Regional Information
Networks NEWS
April 14, 2006
Kampala
The Ugandan army has stopped providing military escorts to convoys
delivering non-food aid to war-ravaged northern Uganda but relief workers
say the decision is premature because the security situation in the region
is still fragile.
"There is no longer need to give escorts to whoever travels on the
roads. We are moving from a bad situation to an improved security
situation," army spokesman Lt Chris Magezi said by phone from Gulu, 380 km
north of the capital, Kampala. "The situation is much better as most major
roads are now motorable without any threat of ambushes."
Aid workers in the northern region said negotiations were going on with
the army to reverse the decision. "We are asking them to reconsider," one
aid worker said.
Magezi said the decision had been conveyed to all humanitarian agencies
working in the region. The move would free up more troops to secure
thousands of displaced civilians who are being relocated to smaller camps
nearer their homes. It does not affect agencies that deliver food aid such
as the United Nations World Food Programme, he added.
"Our advise to the traveling public is that they should travel between
9.00am and 5.00pm [0600 and 1500 GMT] as after that time the units that
patrol the roads pull back from the roads to return to camps to undertake
night assignments," Magezi said. "They are back on the roads at 7.00 am
[0400 GMT] to secure the passages so that people can start to travel again
at 9.00 am."
In October 2005, several agencies reduced activities in the region
after two relief workers were killed in ambushes by the rebel Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA). Three weeks ago, the rebels killed a government
soldier in a raid to steal food on the outskirts of Patongo, Kitgum
District. This week, sources said, two incidents happened in Pader district
in which some people were abducted
However, Magezi said the security situation in the region, where a
rebellion pitting the army against the LRA has been raging for nearly 20
years, had improved.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.7 million
displaced from their homes in northern Uganda and forced to live in camps
since the LRA rebellion started. Rebel leader Joseph Kony and his forces
have been accused of massive abuses in the region including the abductions
of at least 20,000 children who are used as porters, fighters and sex slaves
for rebel commanders.
A joint report by 50 aid agencies working in northern Uganda, published
on 30 February, said that some 146 people die each week in the region.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations ]
