WFP Resumes North Food Aid Distribution

By Richard MutumbaTHE World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food distribution in northern Uganda after intervention by the Government and district local authorities.The WFP acting country director, Edward Kallon, yesterday said, “WFP is now launching an emergency operation to save lives because internally displaced persons are no longer able to access their gardens and are completely dependent on humanitarian aid.” Kallon told a press conference from the programme office in Kampala that eight trucks, each carrying 15 tonnes of food, arrived in Gulu yesterday. He said WFP would need 23,000 tonnes of food to feed 490,000 hungry displaced people in northern Uganda in the next three months.An onslaught by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the past four weeks in northern Uganda resulted in the burning of over 10 protected villages, causing a further internal displacement of over 200,000 persons in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts.Kallon said the frequent ambushes on the main humanitarian corridors in the north, abductions of children and looting of villages in the past weeks had resulted in further suffering of people who were already finding it difficult to meet their minimum basic food needs.He said the suffering of the internally displaced people in northern Uganda was a human rights concern. “As an African, I am ashamed of the “love” manifested by the rebels for their people in the north. They cannot understand the motive behind these brutal and senseless acts,” Kallon said.He said children in northern Uganda were sleeping hungry and families displaced and denied the basic rights to life.A peasant in Alero camp in Gulu district said, “I was at least able to contribute to my wellbeing before these attacks by Kony. Today my children are sleeping hungry in the bush and looking at me in desperation. “I cannot risk going to my gardens for fear of being killed or abducted,” he added.Kallon said more than 10m (about sh17b) was required to purchase maize flour, beans and vegetable oils for the displaced people in northern Uganda.Ends