Uganda : Rethink New Way Forward On IDPs

The Monitor.

Aug 31, 2005 (Kampala) — The humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda has reached a level where the government can no longer afford to oppose the idea that it should be declared an emergency zone.

Less than a year ago, the United Nations described northern Uganda as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

Recently several international agencies have described the situation in the war-ravaged region as worse than Darfur in southern Sudan, which some have referred to as a genocide.

Last week World Vision International declared northern Ugandan a Category III Humanitarian Emergency, the highest level of catastrophe in the organisation’s categorisation.

At the same time the World Health Organisation asked the government to remove internally displaced people from the camps in the northern region so as to stem the alarming death rates in the camps.

When the government first gazetted areas in the north into “protected villages” in the mid 1990’s, it said the move was a temporary undertaking. The government in fact discouraged non-governmental organisations operating in the region from establishing long term programming in the camps saying that such efforts would be rendered useless once the conflict was over.

Almost ten years later, the “protected villages” have turned into “internally displaced peoples” camps (IDPs), and rather than being temporary, they have become permanent.

Worse still, in a number of cases, even the protection that they were meant to provide has not been forthcoming.

There have been attacks on IDPs, and the humanitarian situation has worsened.

A recent Health Mortality Survey in the region has revealed shocking results that over 1,000 people in the camps die every week largely because of poor living conditions. This is one of the highest mortality rates in the world.

The government should come out with a comprehensive plan to address the plight of our people in the camps.

It must ensure security for the people living in the camps, and that the health, water and sanitation, and other services are provided.

While dismantling the camps may not be feasible while the war continues, it is still possible for the government to develop the camps into more habitable modern structures.

In the meantime, both the government, the LRA rebels and the international community need to recommit themselves to ending this senseless war than has cost the country dearly in lives and money.