Plans afoot to pave the way for IDP returns

The government of Uganda's declared intention to see internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Uganda go home from this month is welcome, but there are still substantial issues to be addressed in relation to their return, integration, resettlement and recovery, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. These issues were now being addressed in a draft national policy on IDPs being prepared by the Department of Disaster Preparedness in the Office of the Prime Minister, with the assistance of the United Nations and other partners, it stated in its latest humanitarian update. "It is imperative that any return or resettlement of IDPs should conform to the provisions of the constitution and laws of Uganda, and basic [UN] guiding principles on internal displacement," OCHA stated in its report covering the month of February. Last year and the early months of 2002 saw growing hope for peace in Uganda's long-suffering insecure regions, and the eventual eradication of rebel insurgencies in the north, though recent attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from bases in southern Sudan have tempered optimism about the general security climate and, therefore, the attractiveness to IDPs of moving home. Improving security in the north and increasing isolation of the LRA - the Sudanese government discontinuing its support for the rebel movement as a result of improved relations with Kampala - had facilitated the spontaneous return of several thousand IDPs to their home areas until February, humanitarian sources told IRIN. However, the IDPs were now expected to wait and see what the long-term effects of the rebels' recent incursions would be before continuing their return, they added. The US-based Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC - which has been closely following the situation of civilians in northern Uganda) expressed concern on Monday that a serious LRA attack on 23 February had occurred despite the presence of hundreds of well-equipped Ugandan army troops along the Uganda-Sudan border and within IDP camps. "Moreover, the abduction of over 100 people from a 'protected village', as the IDP camps are called by the government, is another instance where the Ugandan government has not provided adequate protection to the camps," said Allison Anderson Pillsbury of the WCRWC. The WCRWC called, among other things, for increased government protection for its civilians in northern Uganda. Of over 500,000 people displaced from their homes by violent conflicts in northern and southwestern Uganda in the past 16 years, and still residing in and around protected villages/IDP camps in northern Uganda (either full-time or part-time), it was estimated that only about 365,000 (some 72 percent) would return home under any security conditions, OCHA stated in its 28 February report. Of that number, only about 200,000 (or 40 percent) would be expected to return in the first year of any resettlement exercise, it added. In planning return and/or resettlement programmes for IDPs, it was important to make the distinction between IDPs' desire "to go home" and their actual will and capacity to do so, the agency stated. While a big proportion of IDPs was eventually likely to return, "the majority will remain in the protected villages a while longer, until several confidence-building measures are taken and conditions in their places of origin are conducive to their return on a full-time basis," it added. These IDPs would be: looking to a reduced threat of rebel attacks; the government's clarification of their rights and entitlements under any resettlement package; and extension of basic services and infrastructure (both physical and social) to sub-county and parish levels, according to OCHA. Other practical concerns would include: the need for measures to resolve land disputes and reserve/distribute additional land; provision of shelter materials; timing of a return to coincide with the availability of elephant grass (which is important for pastoralists); and arrangements to soften IDPs' return through provision of employment or income-generation opportunities, as well as essential utensils. The European Commission last week announced that it was giving a further €420,000 (about US $367,710) to address the acute water and sanitation needs of IDPs in Gulu District, northern Uganda. This assistance was directed towards improving water and sanitation facilities with the aim of averting the risk of a major health crisis, it said in a statement on 7 March. The Commission's humanitarian aid office (ECHO) has previously been assisting Ugandan IDPs through targeted health/malaria, water and sanitation projects in 2000 and 2001, and supported the fight against the outbreak of Ebola disease in 2000/01. Uganda was finally declared Ebola-free in February 2001 after an outbreak - originally confirmed in October 2000 - in Gulu and, later, the western district of Masindi. The latest tranche of funding brings ECHO’s humanitarian assistance to Uganda over the past 14 months to some €1.3 million (about $1.14 million), according to the EC. Apart from those inclined to return, and assuming that re-congestion of protected villages and return/resettlement was not forced upon IDPs, some 143,000 (or 28 percent) of the IDP population might choose to remain in or around the camps and protected villages for a variety of reasons, the OCHA update stated. Among the factors it cited for some IDPs not wanting to go home were: people having grown used to social and economic services available in the camps, but not in their home areas; diversification of economic activity, and the adoption of new, skilled occupations that are more lucrative than agriculture; the sale or loss of land over time; and irrevocable social change as a result of the displacement experience. At this stage, it was important for all stakeholders to be engaged in the preparation of a plan to phase in the return and resettlement of IDPs, identify the needs to support the process, and assess the resources available - including those that could be made available through agencies reorientating their country programmes to capitalise on this opportunity, OCHA concluded.