Time to go home?

The first time Omona Richard, 35, fled his village to live in a camp for internally displaced people was in 1997 when the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels attacked Padide in the northern Ugandan district of Kitgum, killing his cousin. "We went to the camp because of the security situation," he said recently. "I had one child at the time, now I have four - three of whom were born in the camps." Asked if he was willing to return home to Ywaya parish, Omona said, "No, it is still not safe." Instead, he had chosen to move from Padibe camp to Madi Kiloc 'satellite village' - a smaller setllement designated by the government as part of the strategy to decongest the much bigger camps. Omona is one of over 1.7 million civilians who have been displaced by the 20-year brutal conflict between the government and the LRA in northern Uganda. Officials say the war has virtually ended, and that displaced populations should return home. "The situation is much better," said Christine Aporu Akol, the Ugandan minister of state for disaster preparedness. "Overall, people are willing to go back home, but there are mixed feelings." Driving to the satellite village of Madi Kiloc, 30 km north of Kitgum town, two trucks carrying soldiers accompanied an aid convoy, zooming at high speed past more soldiers on foot patrol. A few villagers had ventured out to their farms and were planting crops. "We cannot venture far away from the camps because the rebels are still there," Omona insisted. However, the government feels differently. "The army has defeated the LRA terrorism in the north, and the peace prevailing now in southern Sudan has paved way for the return of the displaced persons to their homes," said President Yoweri Museveni in mid-March. Only 120 rebel fighters were remaining, and even they had fled from southern Sudan to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

Interview with the humanitarian coordinator Martin Mogwanja is the acting United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Uganda where a bloody conflict between the government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has displaced more than 1.7 million people in the northern region. [More...]

On 12 April, the Ugandan army announced it would no longer provide military escorts to convoys delivering non-food aid to the war-ravaged region. "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," said army spokesman Lt Chris Magezi. "The situation is much better, as most major roads are now motorable without any threat of ambushes." Aid workers, however, have called the measure premature. Omona agreed that security was still precarious. "They are lying," he said. "They do not understand Joseph Kony [LRA leader] that well." Still fluid - northern leaders Local leaders in northern Uganda said the situation remains fluid. In Kitgum, for example, where 90 percent of the population is displaced and more than 310,000 civilians live in camps, people cannot start going home yet. "There has been a tremendous improvement in the security situation because the key LRA leaders have moved to [Democratic Republic of] Congo and many commanders have been captured or surrendered," said Nahaman Ojwee, the district chairman of Kitgum. "But there should not be any laxity yet, because the LRA usually attack when the grass has grown during the wet season. The rainy season has started, and the grass is now growing, so we wait to see. If no attack occurs by December, then maybe we can start encouraging people to go home." Ojwee said a similar lull occurred for one-and-a-half years in 2002. "We did not know they were re-organising and training in Lubanga Tek [in southern Sudan]," he said. "Then, in April, real hell broke out. They hit eight camps in Kitgum and Pader, massacred 58 people in Mucwini, made the Kitgum-Gulu road impassable and abducted more children. Somebody has to explain where all the abducted children are before people can accept that the LRA is defeated." According to sources in Pader district, an LRA captain who surrendered a week ago said that while the LRA had been considerably weakened, "there were still rebels out there". Moving in smaller groups, they have changed tactics to dupe the Ugandan army, communicating more through personal emissaries than through radios or phones to avoid detection.

Interview with the minister for disaster preparedness IDPs in some districts are willing to go home but those further north are still scared of possible attacks by rebels, Christine Aporu Akol the Ugandan minister of state for disaster preparedness and refugees, said. [More...]

Aid workers said these splinter groups are still capable of causing havoc in the region. Early this year, for example, rebel activity was reported in Gulu municipality, Pabbo Atiak and Biobi-Awor in Gulu district; Goma hills, River Lanyadyang, Pungole, Barayom and Wipolo in Pader district; Lipan hunting grounds in Kitgum district; and Barr in Lira, where some abductions occurred in February. Teso displaced cautious Hundreds of kilometres to the east, Hawa Asenyo, 29, who has lived in Swaria camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Soroti town since 2003, said she would go home to Obalanga village, in northern Teso, only if she had a shelter to return to. "One of my children was abducted by the rebels along with my husband, but they returned. The security situation has improved, but I need something to return to," said the mother of four. Displacement of people from Teso stems from both LRA incursions and cattle rustling by nomadic Karamojong warriors. Cattle rustling is an age-old problem in the region, but according to Kenneth Oluka, editor of Etop, the main weekly newspaper in eastern Uganda, it has assumed a new dimension. "In the 1970s, the warriors used to carry spears, but now they have automatic weapons and terrorise the population," he said. Aid workers in Teso said the districts bordering Karamoja region are characterised by large, uninhabited areas, which provide pockets for insecurity by both the LRA and the warriors. There are some 65 camps for the displaced in the frontline Amuria and Katakwi districts, but many of the displaced are venturing to return home. "The last security scare was in October 2005, and since then the situation has been relatively stable," Oluka said. "There is also an effort to reorganise the Arrow Boys [a local militia] to counter any new security threats."

One country, different realities Crossing the River Nile to enter northern Uganda is more than just a visible example of the immense power of the world's longest river but is also a testimony to the divide between two versions of the same country – a war-ravaged north and a much more prosperous south. [More...]

For the IDPs in Swaria camp, however, the situation remains uncertain. "Obalanga [an area of northern Teso] has mass graves," said a former nurse living in the camp. "There are also landmines planted by the LRA. We will stay here until there are security guarantees." Grim reality The LRA is blamed for displacing more than 1.7 million people - including 935,000 children - and forcing them to live in more than 200 camps across northern Uganda. The army's efforts to defeat the rebellion militarily have not been successful, and peace efforts by different groups have failed. More than 25,000 children have been abducted to serve in combat or become sex slaves to male rebel fighters. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), some 1,000 of the abducted children are child-mothers who gave birth to children of their own while in captivity. The conflict has affected several districts in the north and east: Adjumani, which has 41,000 displaced people, according to figures compiled by OCHA in September 2005; Apac, with 98,000 displaced; Gulu, with 460,000 displaced; Kaberamaido, with 2,203 displaced; Katakwi, with 150,200 displaced; Kitgum, with 310,000 displaced; Lira, with 350,800 displaced; and Pader, with 319,500 displaced. Civil society organisations have said people live in pathetic conditions in the camps. A report by NGOs, published at the end of March, said some 146 people die each week in the region - three times more than the number of killings in Iraq since the United States-led invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The report, entitled "Counting the Cost: 20 years of war in northern Uganda", was prepared by 50 aid agencies working in the region.

FACT BOX * Conflict started in northern Uganda in 1986. * Worst-affected districts include Amuria, Apac, Gulu, Kaberamaido, Katakwi, Kitgum, Lira, Pader, Soroti. * Most promising peace initiative launched by Betty Bigombe in 1994. It failed, as did all subsequent initiatives. * Over 1.7 civilians displaced by the war since it began. * About 90 percent of the ethnic Acholi population displaced and forced to live in more than 200 camps, relying almost entirely on aid agencies for survival. * An estimated 25,000 children (7,500 girls) abducted during the war to serve as fighters or sex slaves. Majority of LRA made up of abductees, especially children. * Estimates of weekly deaths in camps range between 136 and 1,000. * Some 41 percent of all deaths in the camps are children under age five. * About 250,000 children in northern Uganda receive no education, despite government policy of free primary education. * Some 1,000 abducted girls have given birth during captivity. * At the height of clashes, up to 45,000 children are “night commuters”. * War has cost Uganda an estimated US $1.7 billion. * War has affected aid delivery to southern Sudan. * War has affected peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo. * International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for top LRA leaders in October 2005. Sources: NGOs, United Nations agencies, Uganda government

"Twenty years of conflict have had a devastating impact on children. Twenty-five thousand children have been abducted during the course of the war, 41 percent of all deaths in the camps are amongst children under five [and] 250,000 children in northern Uganda receive no education, despite Uganda's policy of universal primary education. Northern Uganda is one of the world's worst war zones," said Stella Ayo-Odongo, head of the NGO consortium. Another survey published in April noted that 70 percent of the population in the war-affected region live in absolute poverty, with each adult's consumption expenditure at about US $11 per month. Christopher Laker, executive director of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund, said the survey analysed the state of education, health, labour, housing and household expenditure, vulnerability, welfare and community characteristics. It found that people in the region lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Half the working-age population, especially in Acholi, was a redundant labour force, as there are no job opportunities in the camps. The region had one of the lowest literacy levels in Uganda, at 54 percent, compared with the national average of 68 percent. Fourteen percent of people between six and 25 years of age had not been formally educated, while sanitation was precarious. There was also a high rate of HIV/AIDS infection. A recent situation analysis in Kitgum district showed a 7.9 percent rate, against the national average of 6.2 percent. It attributed this rate to early initiation of sexual activity, abuse and violence, exploitation, multiple partners, unprotected sex, abject poverty and survival sex. "The coherent Acholi culture has been eroded," said the March district report, which cited sexual promiscuity and commercialisation to meet basic needs; early marriages; idleness leading to heaving drinking and drug abuse; widow inheritance; rape and defilement; and polygamy as reasons for the high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. Omona said rape and sexual abuse were exacerbated in the camps by widespread alcohol consumption. "We call it 'smartnet' [a word play on a type of treated bed net] because the drink helps us sleep," he said. "But it also makes people do bad things."

Disagreements over new gov’t strategy Okello Abbino, who has lived in Padibe camp for displaced people in Kitgum district for nine years, has never heard of the Ugandan government’s new strategy to redevelop the war-affected region. [More...]

Currently, UNICEF is supporting the development of an information and referral network for victims of sexual and gender-based violence - including those who are night commuters. The so-called “night commuters” are civilians who leave their villages every evening out of fear of abduction by the rebels. They trek to sleep in the relative safety of towns like Gulu or Kitgum. There are some 18,600 night commuters in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts, and the majority are children. NGO's sensational - gov't Uganda’s minister of state for northern Uganda rehabilitation, Grace Akello, has rejected what she called sensational reports of the humanitarian situation by NGOs. She said the government has established road patrols and deployed soldiers at critical rebel crossing points and at every camp for the displaced. The government has also deployed mine-sweeping equipment on roads and initiated camp decongestion by moving civilians into ‘satellite villages’ "These measures have led to a significant realisation of peace in many parts of northern Uganda. As a result, there is spontaneous return of IDPs to their original homes," Akello said in early April. For Ojwee, there is a new worry. Not enough attention is being paid to the long-term effects of the conflict. "The population has been redundant and dependant - with everything provided by agencies. They will have to restart their lives afresh," he said. "Before that however, the war has to end. Then there are dangers of landmines and ammunition buried by the LRA in various places, and rebuilding infrastructure." Aid workers urge caution. "The population of IDPs in Teso region [comprising the eastern districts of Soroti, Kaberamaido, Amuria and Katakwi districts] who were displaced in 2002/3 have started going home. In Lango region, which comprises Apac and Lira districts, the situation is much more mixed," said Martin Mogwanja, acting UN humanitarian coordinator in Uganda. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the majority of displaced people in Soroti and Kaberamaido districts have returned home, and all schools in the return areas have resumed normal operations. "What the government needs to do now is to ensure that the security situation is stabilised over a long time in the areas of return so that the IDPs can go back home and stay there knowing that their security is assured," he added. "Unfortunately, as long as there are attacks on vehicles and on people or abductions of women going to look for water, then the IDPs within the camps will remain fearful of returning home." Another aid worker in Pader echoed similar sentiments. "Among the IDPs, there is great fear of the unknown. It has happened before that people attempt to return home from the camps, only for the rebels to attack them again. Until security is guaranteed, you cannot blame the IDPs for staying put in the camps," he said. Gazing over a beehive of activity as locals built Madi Kiloc satellite village - a new settlement intended to both decongest Padibe camp and encourage civilians to move nearer their villages, Omona pointed towards the Sudan border. "We cannot go home yet. They [the LRA] are over there and can reach here within days," he warned. ALSO SEE: Chronology of key events in 2006 Photo gallery