UNICEF seeks US $7.8 million for conflict-hit north

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday appealed for US $7.8 million to fund projects to help an estimated 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in strife-torn northern Uganda. "In response to the prevailing humanitarian needs, UNICEF, in cooperation with its partners, has been implementing emergency activities in the eight conflict-affected districts. However, financial resources continue to hinder our overall response," UNICEF said in the appeal. "Of the US $14.3 million appealed for [in May], only 45 percent of the total appeal requirement has been covered," it said. A consolidated appeal launched in May had asked for $14.3 million, of which $6.5 million has been received. UNICEF said that during the past 12 months it had expanded and accelerated its response in health, water and sanitation, education and HIV/AIDS prevention and noted that these sectors remained inadequately funded. Violence, displacement and poverty caused by the 18-year armed conflict between the government of Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continued to exacerbate the already strained humanitarian situation of children and women in northern and northeastern Uganda, UNICEF said. In the eight districts worst affected by the conflict, the number of IDPs now stands at 1.6 million, 80 percent of them children and women. The LRA has abducted an estimated 12,000 children in the northern districts, with at least 3,000 forcibly taken from their homes between October 2003 and June 2004, according to UNICEF. At the time of reporting, the number of child "night commuters" (children primarily in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts who leave their families each night to sleep in urban centres for fear of LRA attacks and abduction) stood at approximately 44,000, UNICEF said.