UN launches appeal for "one of the world's worst crises"

The UN on Wednesday launched an appeal for nearly US $128 million for humanitarian aid to Uganda, to help over a million people who have been displaced by insecurity plaguing more than half the countryside. At the launch in Kampala, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) urged donors to give US $127,901,055 to help expand the UN's presence in trouble-afflicted districts. The money will also be used to provide for increases in food aid, medicines, improved access to water and sanitation, educational and psycho-social support services, including the rehabilitation of former child soldiers with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). A statement issued in Kampala on behalf of the appeal noted that the "problem of internal displacement in Uganda has been going on for the last 17 years and it continues to worsen both in scope and intensity, making Uganda Africa’s fourth-largest displaced population after Sudan, Angola and DR Congo”. Officials attending the meeting reiterated recent comments by OCHA boss Jan Egeland who described Uganda as “one of the world’s worst forgotten crises”. "This crisis cannot be allowed to continue any longer,” he stressed, during a visit to the troubled north of the country. Warren Nyamugasira of the Uganda National NGO forum described conditions in Uganda’s internally displaced persons (IPD) camps as “horrendous” and urged donors to “pledge the necessary funds for maximum impact” to relieve the crisis.