Plans to decongest IDP camps in troubled north

The Ugandan government is to move some internally displaced persons (IDPs) from their camps to new sites from next month in an attempt to decongest the sprawling settlements scattered all over the war-ravaged north, an army official said. Many of the camps are overcrowded and lack adequate health, water and sanitation facilities. They are also exposed to frequent attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which has waged an 18-year old war against the Ugandan government in the region. Lt-Col Francis Achoka of the Ugandan army told representatives of donor countries, who were on a fact-finding tour of the region from 15 to 17 June, that the army would provide security at the new sites. Pabbo camp, which is one of the oldest, and currently hosts 60,000 IDPs, would be decongested first with some of the residents being moved to a new site. "The new settlement will house about 9,000 people. In a month's time, people will start moving in because we have already secured it," Achoka told the representatives from Austria, Canada, Finland, the EU, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Nations (UN) at the new site located in Jengari, a few kilometers from Pabbo. The fact-finding tour of northern Uganda was organised by the Regional Support Office for Central and East Africa of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Dozens of soldiers kept watch around Jengari as IDPs from Pabbo started preparing the ground for their new homes. "We have deployed troops on top of hills so that the rebels can no longer use them as hideouts and launching pads for attacks on civilians," a local commander told IRIN. A fire in Pabbo earlier this year destroyed several thousand huts and highlighted the problem of congestion in the camps. The congestion had also resulted in a breakdown of social structures, increased crime, and alcohol and drug abuse, according to local authorities. Local authorities told IRIN they hoped the new sites would enable IDPs to access some land where they could cultivate some food to supplement rations distributed by relief agencies. The insurgency in the north has displaced an estimated 1.6 million people, 80 percent of them women and children. Rebel fighters mainly target civilians during their raids.