LRA Displaces 5000,000 In North
Sep 16, 2002
<b>GENEVA, Friday </b>- About 500,000 displaced people in northern Uganda face hardship because aid deliveries are hampered by attacks by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
GENEVA, Friday - About 500,000 displaced people in northern Uganda face hardship because aid deliveries are hampered by attacks by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said one of the UN agency’s trucks, which had just delivered food to the town of Kitgum, was attacked and burned on Wednesday.
Many villages in the north of the country have been emptied after rebel attacks on their inhabitants, who have fled to more than 30 camps, Berthiaume told reporters.
“The displaced live in squalid conditions and depend entirely on WFP aid to survive. Insecurity prevents them from going into neighbouring fields,†she added.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is trying to transfer some 30,000 Sudanese refugees in the region to safety from LRA attacks.
UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said LRA rebels had carried out three attacks on refugee camps in the last two months.
The Maaji camp in the north-western district of Adjumani was attacked on Monday in a raid which dispersed some 6,000 people. About a dozen people were abducted by the rebels.
At another camp, Achol-Pii, the LRA attacked on August 5 and more than 50 people were killed. The UNHCR is currently trying to transfer 24,000 Sudanese refugees from that camp to safety.
Janowski said the refugees displaced by the most recent attack were reported to be “traumatised and very scaredâ€.
“The refugees have indicated they may try and return to southern Sudan unless they can rapidly be transported to safer locations,†he added.
The LRA has for the past decade been engaged in a violent campaign to topple the government of President Yoweri Museveni, with the declared aim of replacing it with an administration based on the Biblical 10 commandments.
Ends
WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said one of the UN agency’s trucks, which had just delivered food to the town of Kitgum, was attacked and burned on Wednesday.
Many villages in the north of the country have been emptied after rebel attacks on their inhabitants, who have fled to more than 30 camps, Berthiaume told reporters.
“The displaced live in squalid conditions and depend entirely on WFP aid to survive. Insecurity prevents them from going into neighbouring fields,†she added.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is trying to transfer some 30,000 Sudanese refugees in the region to safety from LRA attacks.
UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said LRA rebels had carried out three attacks on refugee camps in the last two months.
The Maaji camp in the north-western district of Adjumani was attacked on Monday in a raid which dispersed some 6,000 people. About a dozen people were abducted by the rebels.
At another camp, Achol-Pii, the LRA attacked on August 5 and more than 50 people were killed. The UNHCR is currently trying to transfer 24,000 Sudanese refugees from that camp to safety.
Janowski said the refugees displaced by the most recent attack were reported to be “traumatised and very scaredâ€.
“The refugees have indicated they may try and return to southern Sudan unless they can rapidly be transported to safer locations,†he added.
The LRA has for the past decade been engaged in a violent campaign to topple the government of President Yoweri Museveni, with the declared aim of replacing it with an administration based on the Biblical 10 commandments.
Ends