50% of IDPs return home â€" UN report
May 27, 2009
OVER 653,000 former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda have returned to their homes, a UN report has said. A total of 16,576 abandoned huts and 1,047 latrines in the IDP camps in Gulu and Amuru districts have been demolished by the com
By Chris Ocowun
OVER 653,000 former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda have returned to their homes, a UN report has said. A total of 16,576 abandoned huts and 1,047 latrines in the IDP camps in Gulu and Amuru districts have been demolished by the committees established to phase-out the camps, the report on the humanitarian situation in the north said.
The report is published by the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Except for Kitgum district, camp phase out activities continued, resulting into the demolition of 7,922 huts and 306 latrines in Gulu, and 8,654 huts, 741 latrines, 5 rubbish pits and 523 bath shelters in Amuru,†the report stated.
It said Gulu district received 289 bicycles from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to facilitate the collection of data on population movement.
It noted that in Pader district, return monitoring agencies, in conjunction with the local government, carried out refresher training for the LCs to streamline the process of collecting the statistics.
The report disclosed that the first complete set of the data will be collected in June. It noted that there is slow progress in camp decommissioning in Gulu.
In Amuru district, the report noted, a date has not yet been agreed upon for the joint assessment of the four camps selected to initiate the exercise.
In Kitgum, it said, the phase-out process stalled due to failure by the technical committee to meet this year. As a result, only four out of the 25 camps in the district have been approved to be phased out.
The report said more than 280,000 (25%) of the IDPs are in transit camps, closer to their villages. The report pointed out that the forced eviction of IDPs from Bobi, Alokolum, Ongako, Unyama and Awoo IDP camps by the landowners was cruel.
“The evictions followed public pronouncements by some politicians that all camps were closed as of the end of March 2009,†it noted.
The report observed that the Police had extended their presence to the villages.
OVER 653,000 former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda have returned to their homes, a UN report has said. A total of 16,576 abandoned huts and 1,047 latrines in the IDP camps in Gulu and Amuru districts have been demolished by the committees established to phase-out the camps, the report on the humanitarian situation in the north said.
The report is published by the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Except for Kitgum district, camp phase out activities continued, resulting into the demolition of 7,922 huts and 306 latrines in Gulu, and 8,654 huts, 741 latrines, 5 rubbish pits and 523 bath shelters in Amuru,†the report stated.
It said Gulu district received 289 bicycles from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to facilitate the collection of data on population movement.
It noted that in Pader district, return monitoring agencies, in conjunction with the local government, carried out refresher training for the LCs to streamline the process of collecting the statistics.
The report disclosed that the first complete set of the data will be collected in June. It noted that there is slow progress in camp decommissioning in Gulu.
In Amuru district, the report noted, a date has not yet been agreed upon for the joint assessment of the four camps selected to initiate the exercise.
In Kitgum, it said, the phase-out process stalled due to failure by the technical committee to meet this year. As a result, only four out of the 25 camps in the district have been approved to be phased out.
The report said more than 280,000 (25%) of the IDPs are in transit camps, closer to their villages. The report pointed out that the forced eviction of IDPs from Bobi, Alokolum, Ongako, Unyama and Awoo IDP camps by the landowners was cruel.
“The evictions followed public pronouncements by some politicians that all camps were closed as of the end of March 2009,†it noted.
The report observed that the Police had extended their presence to the villages.