LRA attacks hit food security in north

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has said that food security prospects in northern Uganda for this year remain unstable due to continued attacks by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

"The ongoing brutal attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels have grounded all economic activities in outlying areas in the Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts," Edward Kallon, Deputy Country Director for WFP in Uganda, told IRIN.

"The residents in outlying areas and IDPs [internally displaced persons] in protected camps in the three districts have very limited or no access to their gardens. People are currently abandoning their homes for big displacement camps or nearby towns," he said.

Earlier, on 26 June, a humanitarian worker based in the town of Gulu told IRIN that "virtually all" non-governmental organisations had halted their operations in northern Uganda due to the rise in insecurity.

He said all roads linking the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Pakwac had become unsafe, thereby limiting the movement of relief workers. This was having severe humanitarian implications.

Press reports indicate that recent attacks on northern Ugandan districts have been perpetrated by part of a group of 400 LRA fighters believed to have slipped recently into Uganda from Sudan. LRA leader Joseph Kony has remained in Sudan with his main force, believed by the Ugandan army to number about 2,000.

Last week, LRA fighters attacked the Alero IDP camp, 26 km southwest of Gulu, burning dwellings and forcing the occupants to flee, media reports said. One soldier and one civilian reportedly died.

There are an estimated 550,000 IDPs in Uganda, mainly in the north and west of the country.

According to Kallon, the food security situation among the 490,000 IDPs in the Pader, Gulu and Kitgum districts, "is very critical and a big concern among humanitarian actors in the north". Access to IDPs in Kitgum and Pader districts especially was "very, very limited", he added.