Thousands of unaccompanied children stranded

Thousands of children fleeing Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks in northern Uganda’s troubled Pader district are now stranded in neighbouring Karamoja, unable to rejoin their families, according to government officials. "They are scattered throughout Kotido district [northern Karamoja]," Minister of State for Karamoja Peter Lokeris told IRIN. "The number isn’t clear, but we estimate it at around 4,000. Most of them are staying in various schools around the area." Many of the children, who fled from their villages during or because of rebel attacks, have also been enrolled in the local schools. Lokeris said that they had been trickling into the district since the beginning of the year. He said that some of them had recently expressed the desire to go home but were too frightened to move. "It is a dire situation," he said. "They can’t go back and see their families and their parents have not visited them." Lokeris said the children were quite well looked after, in spite of the fact that Kotido is under-resourced. "The World Food Programme is giving them food and they are being educated and given clothes. All things considered, they are quite healthy," he told IRIN. Kotido District Chairman Calistus Adoma said an appeal was to be launched in Pader district, where the children come from, to help pay for their upkeep.