EC approves package targeting IDPs in the north

The European Commission has approved a €6 million (US $7.22 million) humanitarian aid programme for victims of the conflict in northern Uganda, the EC said in a statement. The package would target 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), it added. According to the statement, issued on Wednesday, the aid will also support 40,000 people, mainly children, who are forced to leave their homes at night and camp in neighbouring towns to avoid being abducted by armed rebels. These children are popularly known as "night commuters". The aid, it added, would further support basic health activities: hospitals and health centres, feeding centres, HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, water and sanitation activities, food security interventions and psychosocial programmes for children who had been abducted and used as soldiers or ‘wives’ by armed groups. On Monday, the Ugandan government and the United Nations appealed for an additional US $80 million to fund the provision of humanitarian aid to 2.3 million people, including the 1.6 million displaced by the conflict between the army and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army in northern and eastern Uganda. Urging the government to ensure security for the IDPs, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Uganda Daouda Toure said in the capital, Kampala, that the UN was hoping for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. This, he added, could result in economic growth and boost Uganda's poverty-alleviation efforts. Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness Christine Aporu announced a contribution of Ush 200 million (US $111,000) from the government to the UN World Food Programme. She said that since January 2003, the government had released Ush 16.4 billion to meet the needs of the displaced, including food, resettlement, security, road repairs and the provision of water and health services. In March, the EC had allocated €6 million for about 500,000 people affected by conflict in northern and eastern Uganda.