Protected villages policy “not working”

Uganda’s policy of protected villages in the north to defend local people against rebel attacks is not working, according to the ‘New African’ monthly. Following a visit to northern Uganda, the magazine noted that Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels “still attack at will” and kidnap villagers “who would rather chance their luck and return home”. Labongogali, a protected camp 30 km northwest of Gulu, houses some 5,000 people “living in a squalid mass of mud huts”, the ‘New African’ said. Health and education are inadequate and rebels still attack the camp. The nearby camp of Amuru is the largest in the area with 32,000 people crammed into a single square mile of land. ‘New Africa’ quoted local council chairman Olyee Atwone as saying most of the children were malnourished and the search for food was taking people away from the camp and into rebel territory.