By Chris Ocowun
ABOUT 700 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Gulu district whose contract with Kinyara Sugar Works ended last year are living in squalid conditions.

They are facing hunger and disease, which has forced many men to abandon their families in the four camps within the sugar plantation.

A representative of the Acholi community in Kinyara, Edison Obalim, told members of the district reconciliation and peace team who visited the camps on Thursday that some residents had died due to the appaling conditions.

“Many children whose parents have abandoned them due to hard conditions in the camps are suffering and lack food. Many of them were born here and do not know where they come from. Many IDPs have moved to Hoima, Buliisa and Kabale districts to look for casual jobs.”

He listed the affected camps as Kihura, Kasubi, Zebra, Nyamiringa and Kabango. Obalim said the Kinyara officials asked the displaced persons who were occupying the factory land after their contracts were terminated to vacate to pave way for sugarcane growing.

Obalim added that the IDPs were willing to return to their villages, but they lacked money for transport.

The leaders, led by the district speaker, Martin Ojara, promised to lobby advocacy groups like the Invisible Children to repatriate the displaced people from Bunyoro.

A resident of Kasubi Camp, Martin Opio, said they had not received resettlement packages. “Many of us sleep without food, our children cannot go to schools on empty stomachs and about 180 of our huts were burnt when the plantations caught fire yet nothing has been done to rectify the problem,” he said.

An elderly woman, Sizaria Lalango, said: “Please think about us because this war has displaced many Acholi. We are suffering because of the mistake of one man named Joseph Kony.”

The Kinyara Sugar Works community services manager, Moses Kidamba, said they were working with the Office of Prime Minister to repatriate the displaced persons.