UN boss to visit northern

Mar 30, 2006

THE United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, is scheduled to visit northern Uganda today to assess the effects of the 20-year-long rebellion that has left over two million civilians displaced.

By Charles Ariko
THE United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, is scheduled to visit northern Uganda today to assess the effects of the 20-year-long rebellion that has left over two million civilians displaced.

Egeland’s visit is part of his nine-day mission to East Africa, where he will visit countries that are suffering from humanitarian crises due to conflicts or natural causes.

The other countries on Egeland’s itinerary are Kenya, Chad and Sudan.

While in Uganda, he is expected to have a first hand view of the situation in northern Uganda by visiting IDP camps, a statement issued by the UN said yesterday.

“Egeland’s first port of call will be Uganda, where a 20-year-long rebellion by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has uprooted almost two million civilians amid accusations of grave human rights violations by the rebels. The violations include the kidnapping of thousands of children as fighters or ‘wives’ of the rebels,” the statement said.

From Uganda, Egeland will travel to Juba in Sudan, where the UN Mission in the country (UNMIS) is preparing for the return of more than four million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
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