Friends
This is one of the very many appeals that were made when violence was
running Northern Uganda. Jan Egeland is in class of Kilgour that I posted
yesterday. It is very unwise for anyone to stand out there and state that we
do not have violence in Uganda. All these people simply cannot be liars.
Ugandans we need to discuss Acholi violence candidly.
F O R E W O R D
As the world turns its gaze toward the horrors in Darfur, an equally
terrible situation in northern Uganda
continues virtually unnoticed: the actions of a fanatical rebel movement,
the Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA), have displaced over 1.6 million people, even more than in Darfur. The
conflict has destroyed lives,
communities and rich cultural traditions.This conflict, surrounded by an
inexplicable international
silence, cannot be allowed to continue. The international community must
help to end it and staunch
the haemorrhage of human suffering.
Where else in the world do we see boys and girls kidnapped in attacks
directly targeting them? Not long
ago, I witnessed first-hand the suffering of families in northern Uganda. I
was more shocked by what I
saw there than on any other visit to conflict areas. More than 20,000
children have been kidnapped,
including 12,000 since 2002 alone. This is a conflict fought by, with and
against children. More than 80
percent of the LRA forces are minors, forced to become child soldiers or sex
slaves to their
commanders.In the town of Gulu, I met a young girl who had escaped from the
LRA. She told me how
she had been forced to club and bite another child to death. Like this girl,
thousands of other children
have been raped, brutalized, drugged and forced to inflict unspeakable
violence on others. The result: a
generation whose childhood has been forever stolen from them.
Where else do we see the phenomenon of "night commuters?" Each night in
northern Uganda, more
than 40,000 mothers, grandmothers and children leave their homes and travel
many miles on foot to
the main towns, seeking refuge from abduction by the LRA. When the sun
rises, they trek back to their
villages, usually on an empty stomach.
This brutal conflict takes place in a country once heralded as the "Pearl of
Africa," a country that earned
praise for its efforts to combat AIDS, one that receives significant
development aid from donors. Yet the
horrors in the north grind on. No one knows how many people have died, but
thousands of homes,
schools and clinics have been destroyed and countless communities and
livelihoods have been torn
asunder by violence.
The conflict has reached a peak in the last two years. In response, UN
agencies and their NGO
partners have scaled up their activities, expanding vitally needed food and
health care to key towns
and camps in the north, where more than 90 percent of the population has
been forced to flee.
Living in crowded, poorly protected camps, thousands of families now depend
on humanitarian
aid for their sustenance in regions once known as the breadbasket of Uganda.
Today, these same
families dare not venture out of the camps to till their land for fear of
LRA attacks. Rebel attacks
also make it difficult for aid workers to deliver more than the bare
necessities to those who
desperately need them.
Uganda's Government has taken steps to improve protection, but it can do
more to meet its
responsibilities to protect its citizens. Civilians in northern Uganda are
still at too great a risk. The
international community must shed light on and condemn the LRA's atrocities.
The international
donor community must complement the Government's increased efforts by giving
enough
humanitarian aid for those in need. So far, less than two-thirds of the $127
million requested in the
UN appeal for Uganda has been received.
It is time to step up actions to end the abuses, end the conflict, and help
rebuild northern Uganda.
Under a Government amnesty, more LRA fighters are renouncing violence. A
stronger
demobilization and reintegration programme must be created. Children who
escape from the LRA
do not receive the help they need, and live in fear of re-abduction.
There is no military solution. Dialogue is needed to end the conflict and
enable child combatants to
reclaim a life of peace and dignity. Uganda's Government should apply the
same determination and
wisdom it has shown in tackling HIV/AIDS and revitalizing the economy in the
south to peacefully
resolving the war in the north. If the LRA members take advantage of the
amnesty and international
donors increase their assistance, we can help those in desperate need, and
prepare for the safe
return of 1.6 million people to their lands. These steps will provide the
platform for local civil society
to continue its valuable work of pursuing reconciliation and lasting peace.
We cannot allow this conflict to remain unnoticed and unresolved. Its cruel
consequences are too
pervasive, and the human casualties too high, for the world to continue to
turn a blind eye to them.
The future of Uganda's children depends on it.
Jan Egeland
UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator
Stay in the forum for Series two hundred and seventy nine is on the way
------>
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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