ICRC resumes humanitarian operations

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has ended a three-year suspension of humanitarian operations in Uganda that had followed the killing of six of its staffers in an area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the Ugandan military had been deployed. Pierre-Andre Conod, the ICRC head of delegation in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, told IRIN that the Geneva-based agency had this week launched a programme to help internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the war-ravaged north, where about 1.6 million people have been displaced by an 18-year rebel war. The programme targets five selected IDP camps in Kitgum District. "On Tuesday, we started with the distribution of high-yielding vegetable seeds to some 3,500 families in the Akwang camp. These five camps will highlight our value addition through an integrated approach. We want to concentrate on the economic security of the people [with projects] like medical and water rehabilitation, as well as protection of the civilian population," said Conod. The six ICRC staffers were killed on 26 April 2001 in Ituri, northeastern DRC, in an area then under the control of the Uganda People's Defence Forces, which had been deployed there at the height of a broader war in the country. Four were DRC nationals, while the others were a Swiss doctor and a Kenyan-Colombian national. The group had been travelling on a mission in a vehicle with clear ICRC identification marks. Suspicion fell on the Ugandan military and the ICRC directed a formal protest to the government demanding a thorough investigation. The ICRC also announced the suspension of its operations, and even threatened to pull out of Uganda completely. The government agreed to investigate the incident, but the results did not convince the ICRC, which eventually scaled down its work and withdrew over 90 percent of its international staff from Uganda. The Ugandan defence ministry's report on the matter found that as the murders had occurred in an area in which militia groups were operational at the time, it was therefore likely that one of those groups bore responsibility for the crime. Conod told IRIN on Wednesday that dialogue with the Ugandan government was still continuing, though he declined to divulge details. "In March this year, we decided to separate the two issues. We are still engaged in dialogue, but because of the deterioration of the situation in northern Uganda, we decided to resume with an evaluation mission in the northern region," he says. He said the supplies distributed on Tuesday comprised non-food items including, sugar, soap and salt. Children's clothes would be distributed later this year with a view to helping to curb rampant respiratory infections, he said. "ICRC will not venture into food distribution, but [concentrate] more on the economic security of the people and their protection. We shall give micro-economic parcels that could give the population in the camps some purchasing power through their production surpluses," he added. Water engineers had already been deployed, mainly in the districts of Gulu and Kitgum, where per capita water distribution was at a meager 5 litres per person. "This is incredibly small by any standard, and we shall concentrate on drilling more boreholes. But should the situation remain as it is, we intend to expand our activities to other conflict districts," he said. Three medical specialists have already been deployed in the region, while a medical delegate is in the country to look at the facilities in the war-affected north. The ICRC plans to improve the referral systems in the existing medical structures, which Conod described as good but in need of more medical supplies to cope with the demands posed by the war situation. ICRC was investigating how each camp could have a primary health-care programme. Prior to suspending its operations in 2001, the ICRC had focussed mainly on the provision of safe water through the construction of wells, visits and assistance to prisoners, medical and food distributions to the needy, especially IDPs in protected camps, and family life education. The organisation had employed some 140 people, spending nearly US $9 million annually in the country. Currently 20 staff are working in northern Uganda.