Western IDPs need assistance - rights NGO

Not only have people been displaced in western Uganda by the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and subjected to a brutal war with minimal political aim objectives but they have also been subjected to hunger, disease and the risk of insecurity after moving to government protection camps, according to the UK-based organisation African Rights. In a report released on Friday, 21 December, it said that while people had flocked to these camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking shelter and protection, or had settled near army bases, the ADF had repeatedly managed to attack them. The camps were very insecure, the IDPs lived in dread of ADF attacks and the Ugandan army was not adequately providing for their protection - though that situation had improved since late 1999, it quoted western residents as saying. The ADF rebellion was a war on civilians, whom it killed, brutalised, abducted and looted from, African Rights reported. Overwhelmingly, the ADF had targeted children, some of whom they killed, others of whom they abducted as fighters or porters for looted goods, it stated. The rebels had frequently attacked schools, and had also targeted businesses and farms, the report added. The Uganda People's Defence Forces had frequently failed to protect people from such instances or respond effectively, even when they had troops stationed nearby, according to African Rights. Once accommodated in displacement camps, which offered relative safety from rebel attack compared to people's own homes, many people could not tend their crops, became dependent on food aid and ended up in a limbo in which they struggled daily for survival, it stated. "There's abject poverty, especially among the displaced people in camps. They've been denied education and development. There's a breakdown of social services like medical care," it cited Catholic Church sources in Ruwenzori as saying. Camp residents in Kibota, Kabarole District, expressed concern about: a shortage of food; the outbreak of diseases, such as malaria, and inadequate drugs to tackle them; inadequate transport to and from the camps; high levels of unemployment and redundancy among camp residents; and inadequate shelter and bedding materials, the NGO reported. Even more worryingly, relief workers had observed that people were unable to maintain social and cultural standards through their long residence in an IDP camp, and that this had led to stark social and moral problems, African Rights reported. Among these, it said, were: an erosion of traditional authority; a big increase in school drop-outs; the increased incidence and apparent acceptability of various forms of child abuse; increased prostitution and risk of sexually transmitted diseases; and a reduced premium on privacy, cultural norms, the dowry system and marriage. While there was some optimism among IDPs that they might soon be able to return to village life (the government having announced in late November that the tens of thousands displaced could return to their homes in Kabarole, Kasese, Bundibugyo, Kamwenge and Kyenjojo, because security had improved), "it will be a challenge to address the extent of the social and economic damage", African Rights warned. There are some 60,500 IDPs in Bundibugyo District, 6,3000 in Kabarole and 5,000 in Kasese, according to statistics from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). [see 2002 Uganda Inter-Agency Appeal at http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf] The office of the prime minister, which is responsible for disaster preparedness, has asked the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the release of 1.5 billion Ugandan shillings (some US $2.6 million) in supplementary funding to assist IDP resettlement in the west, OCHA reported last week in its latest update, for November/December. However, Disaster Preparedness Minister Moses Ali had also encouraged district authorities to urge IDPs to start moving home without waiting for resettlement packages, in order to take advantage of the dry season to clear bush and prepare for the early planting season next year, the report added. Whereas there are many organisations working for peace and development in northern Uganda, this is not the case in the west, which requires greater engagement from the government, donors and aid agencies, according to African Rights. Intensified efforts by the government to tackle the ADF revolt must take into account the devastation it had caused local people, and be followed up by "substantial commitments aimed at improving social and economic conditions" to ensure that western Uganda did not remain marginalised, under-resourced and vulnerable to rebellious elements, it added.