Northern IDPs to be resettled, says gov't

Uganda plans to spend US$10 million to resettle internally displaced persons in northern Uganda, where a 20-year war against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has forced almost two million people out of their homes. Presenting the country's 2006/7 budget estimates to parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Ezra Suruma said the money would also be used to alleviate poverty in the region over the next 12 months. "Northern Uganda continues to have the highest incidence of poverty due to the persistent insecurity over many years," Suruma said. Renewed peace and security in region made implementation of a recovery and development plan that had been developed a priority for the government, he said. Recently, there have been renewed efforts to end the war peacefully, but the Ugandan government is yet to designate negotiators for a peace parley proposed by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/ Movement in the Sudanese town of Juba. Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that up to 393,000 persons had already returned home in regions of Lango in the north and Teso in the northeast. However, a series of assessments in areas of return conducted in April indicated a challenging amount of work ahead. OCHA said the assessment revealed a "lack of teachers in schools due to lack of staff housing; lack of equipment and school materials; extremely poor condition of the health services, including the need to refurbish the infrastructure." The study pointed to an appalling lack of medical staff and equipment. Crude and under-5 mortality rates in the region are above the emergency threshold. "Survey findings also indicate that the leading causes of mortality are malaria, diarrhoea, violence and HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and limited access to quality health services compound the problem," the report said. "Living conditions in the majority of displacement camps remain extremely precarious, despite the increased intervention of the humanitarian community," the report continued. "The overcrowded camps are prone to recurrent disease outbreaks, wildfires during the dry season and human rights abuses, from both Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan People Defence Force/Local Defence Units, including sexual and gender-based violence."