More than a million displaced people

The number of Ugandans who have been displaced by the country’s 17-year long civil war in the north has now exceeded one million, according to latest figures from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP). A comprehensive assessment released this week puts the figure of Uganda’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) at 1,217,332 - based on recent surveys in the trouble-afflicted regions of Acholi (Gulu, Kitgum, Pader districts), Langi (Apac, Lira districts) and Teso (Katakwi, Soroti, Kumi and Kaberameido districts). Before the incursions of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels into the eastern Teso region, which began on 15 June this year, the number of displaced was estimated to be around 800,000. But relentless LRA attacks in the past two months have forced hundreds of thousands more – in Teso and other regions – out of their homes. The fear of being attacked or abducted has also prevented people living in these largely agrarian areas from tilling the land, making most of them dependent on food aid. The report puts the combined food requirements of Uganda’s IDPs at 106,699 mt. In addition, some 13,553 mt are required to feed nearly 155,000 refugees from Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Uganda’s semi-arid northeastern region of Karamoja, which has been plagued by drought and insecurity related to the flow of small arms through the region, is estimated to need 13,935 mt for its 535,366 affected people.