WFP Resumes Food Delivery To Kitgum
Oct 01, 2002
The World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food delivery to Kitgum and Pader districts.
By Caroline Lamwaka
The World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food delivery to Kitgum and Pader districts.
WFP country director Ken Noah Davies told reporters in Kampala yesterday that the distribution of relief food to Kitgum resumed on Monday.
He said, however, that there was need to move more food to Kitgum, as there was only 300 tonnes there.
“We are planning to move food from Lira to Kitgum. I have been getting reports that malnutrition is beginning to crop up in the camps. Two weeks ago, we had a meeting with the President regarding enhanced security.â€
WFP suspended food aid to Kitgum and Pader districts two weeks ago following an ambush on its food convoy by suspected LRA rebels on the Kitgum-Lira road.
A driver was killed in the raid.
Meanwhile, Gloria Laker reports that President Yoweri Museveni has directed the 4th and 5th divisions in the north for another seperate Battalion of UPDF soldiers to be strictly incharge of escorting relief distribution in Pader, Kitgum and Gulu.
The battalion will consist of 1,000 soldiers and will beef up security on the Lira - Kitgum and Gulu - Kitgum roads to limit rebel ambushes on civilian vehicles.
Pader woman member of Parliament Santa Okot said relief food aid may resume within a week.
In another development, the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels yesterday burnt 62 huts in Pajule and also abducted an unspecified number of people, most of them children.
“The situation in Kitgum is still so pathetic that the people are shattered as they live in fear,†Okot said.
Kony rebels have fought the Government for about 16 years. The attacks, which are launched from their bases in southern Sudan, have paralysed economic activities in the region. The Government and Khartoum have signed an agreement which allows UPDF to hunt rebels inside Sudan.
Ends
The World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food delivery to Kitgum and Pader districts.
WFP country director Ken Noah Davies told reporters in Kampala yesterday that the distribution of relief food to Kitgum resumed on Monday.
He said, however, that there was need to move more food to Kitgum, as there was only 300 tonnes there.
“We are planning to move food from Lira to Kitgum. I have been getting reports that malnutrition is beginning to crop up in the camps. Two weeks ago, we had a meeting with the President regarding enhanced security.â€
WFP suspended food aid to Kitgum and Pader districts two weeks ago following an ambush on its food convoy by suspected LRA rebels on the Kitgum-Lira road.
A driver was killed in the raid.
Meanwhile, Gloria Laker reports that President Yoweri Museveni has directed the 4th and 5th divisions in the north for another seperate Battalion of UPDF soldiers to be strictly incharge of escorting relief distribution in Pader, Kitgum and Gulu.
The battalion will consist of 1,000 soldiers and will beef up security on the Lira - Kitgum and Gulu - Kitgum roads to limit rebel ambushes on civilian vehicles.
Pader woman member of Parliament Santa Okot said relief food aid may resume within a week.
In another development, the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels yesterday burnt 62 huts in Pajule and also abducted an unspecified number of people, most of them children.
“The situation in Kitgum is still so pathetic that the people are shattered as they live in fear,†Okot said.
Kony rebels have fought the Government for about 16 years. The attacks, which are launched from their bases in southern Sudan, have paralysed economic activities in the region. The Government and Khartoum have signed an agreement which allows UPDF to hunt rebels inside Sudan.
Ends