Myth 2: Two million people have been living in camps for 20 years
Apr 21, 2006
Many truths and many lies have been told about the war in Northern Uganda. The fact that the conflict has become deeply politicised, and that the parties involved have become parties of interest, has complicated the understanding of the conflict, and thus made it difficult to agree on a solution.
Many truths and many lies have been told about the war in Northern Uganda. The fact that the conflict has become deeply politicised, and that the parties involved have become parties of interest, has complicated the understanding of the conflict, and thus made it difficult to agree on a solution.
In an attempt to bring all the parties on the same wavelength and contribute to a sober and constructive debate, based on facts, The New Vision travelled all over northern Uganda, visiting the biggest camps in every district and interviewing camp leaders as well as displaced people, in an attempt to distinguish truths from lies, facts from myths. Camps visited by The New Vision team included: Pabbo, Amuru and Atiak in Gulu district; Padibe, Mucwini and Kitgum Matidi in Kitgum district; Patongo, Rackoko and Lapul in Pader District; Barr, Erute, Aloi and Agweng in Lira District; Minakulu and Otwal in Apac District, Okude and Orungo in Amuria District, Teso. Els De Temmerman and Chris Ochowun write:
Orungo trading centre in Amuria district was once one of the biggest internally displaced people’s camps in one of the most affected parts of Teso region. Over 26,000 people sought refuge here when the Lord’s Resistance Army struck Teso in June 2003. Today, most huts in the camp are abandoned. The grass thatched roofs and parts of the walls have been eaten by nature.
Only about 6,000 people remain in the camp. Asked why they have not yet joined their clanmates at home, the remainders give various reasons. Samson Oduch, an S3 student at Orungo High School, says he stayed behind with his brother to be closer to school. His village, Akeriau, is seven kilometres away. For teenagers like Samson, the hut in the camp does not only provide free accommodation, it also lets them escape from parental supervision.
Hellen Aguti, mother of one, says she is still in the camp because there is no food at home. They have just planted and crops are not yet ready for harvesting. In the camp, she could offer her labour to cultivate other people’s land and buy food with the earnings.
And her house is not ready, she adds. The grass for the thatched roof has not yet matured.
According to camp leader, Michael Erau, some people keep two houses: one in the village and one in the camp, just in case. Kony might be in Congo but he is still alive and free. Tubur rock, where the rebels used to perform their rituals, is a constant reminder of Kony’s alleged magical power. But it is mainly the Karamajong rustlers disturbing them these days. Two weeks ago, they stole 28 cattle in the area. All were later recovered. Orungo is illustrative for the whole region. Of the estimated 483,000 Teso people displaced at the peak of the LRA insurgency, 300,000 have gone back home. Those remaining keep one leg in the camp, mainly out of fear of Karimojong attacks.
“Karimojong are the biggest threat now,†confirms Sam Oinya, the District Disaster Preparedness Coordinator of Soroti. “In Kaberamaido, 98% of people have returned to their villages. In Katakwi, which is bordering Karamoja, only 20% have gone home.†A similar pattern can be observed in neighbouring Lango. While all displaced people in the southern part of Lira district had voluntarily returned home by August 2005, others keep commuting between the camp and the village. A UN assessment in Lira district in March 2006 found that over 55% of the displaced in the camps visited had partially or permanently returned to their villages.
The services offered in the camp, such as health care, education and food distribution, and the assistance promised to those who return home, are some of the reasons why people are holding on. But the hut in the camp is mainly kept as a potential refuge in case the security situation deteriorates. Any LRA attack or Karimojong raid, even miles away, can make people run back to the camp. “Our problem is now mainly cattle raids,†says Salim Oryem, camp leader of Aloi, one of the biggest camps in Lira. “The Karimojong came up to here last February and stole cattle from Alebtong.â€
The constant movement of people from urban centres to rural camps and from rural camps to the village, makes it almost impossible to establish the number of internally displaced people in northern Uganda at any given time. However, recent claims that nearly two million people are still displaced by the LRA war and the general belief that northern Ugandans have been living in camps for 20 years, are not correct.
In fact, the first camps were established in September-October 1996 in Gulu as a result of intense LRA activity in places like Atiak, Anaka, Koch-Goma, Opit and Pabbo. In Kitgum, it was the massacres in Lokung and Padibe in January 1997 that drove the first people from their homes to the trading centres and to Kitgum town.
According to a USAID assessment by Robert Gersony, a total of 140,000 people were displaced by April 1997. A UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report of August 2005, quoted by the International Crisis Group, confirms that the number of displaced people in early 2002 stood at 150,000.
The main displacement took place after June 2002, when the LRA camps in Sudan were dismantled, prompting the LRA to reinvade Uganda. When the rebels struck Lango and Teso regions in mid-2003, the displaced population might have briefly peaked two million. But hundreds of thousands started returning to their villages at the beginning of 2005. By mid-2005, the official figure of displaced people, as used by both the Government of Uganda and World Food Programme, was 1.4 million. Many in Lango and Teso regions continue to go home. And many of those remaining are fearing as much the LRA as the Karimojong.
In Acholiland, where the LRA threat is still the most pervasive, decongestion is the answer for the time being, in a move to take people closer to their fields. Biria, one of the decongested camps we visited in Gulu district, is still being constructed.
It is supposed to decongest almost 10,000 people from Pabbo camp. The walls are already up, but the roofs are missing. “We are only waiting for the grass to grow,†says acting camp commandant, Oryem Simon.
Most publications put the figure of displaced people in Acholiland at 1.2 million to 1.3 million, constituting 90% of the total population. Yet, according to the 2005 census, the population of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts combined is only 1.1 million.
Interestingly, a study of the Prime Minister’s Office in the three districts of Acholiland found that, when the war ends, not everybody would go home. “If peace comes to northern Uganda, as many as one third of the IDP population may start moving out of the camps spontaneously. Another third will move if some assistance is given, while a final third will remain in the camps, at least for a while,†the Northern Uganda Internally Displaced Persons Profiling Study of September 2006 concludes.
For adolescents like Oduch Samson, the semi-urban lifestyle of the camp, the vicinity of school and the newly won freedom might be more attractive than life back in the village.
Ends
In an attempt to bring all the parties on the same wavelength and contribute to a sober and constructive debate, based on facts, The New Vision travelled all over northern Uganda, visiting the biggest camps in every district and interviewing camp leaders as well as displaced people, in an attempt to distinguish truths from lies, facts from myths. Camps visited by The New Vision team included: Pabbo, Amuru and Atiak in Gulu district; Padibe, Mucwini and Kitgum Matidi in Kitgum district; Patongo, Rackoko and Lapul in Pader District; Barr, Erute, Aloi and Agweng in Lira District; Minakulu and Otwal in Apac District, Okude and Orungo in Amuria District, Teso. Els De Temmerman and Chris Ochowun write:
Orungo trading centre in Amuria district was once one of the biggest internally displaced people’s camps in one of the most affected parts of Teso region. Over 26,000 people sought refuge here when the Lord’s Resistance Army struck Teso in June 2003. Today, most huts in the camp are abandoned. The grass thatched roofs and parts of the walls have been eaten by nature.
Only about 6,000 people remain in the camp. Asked why they have not yet joined their clanmates at home, the remainders give various reasons. Samson Oduch, an S3 student at Orungo High School, says he stayed behind with his brother to be closer to school. His village, Akeriau, is seven kilometres away. For teenagers like Samson, the hut in the camp does not only provide free accommodation, it also lets them escape from parental supervision.
Hellen Aguti, mother of one, says she is still in the camp because there is no food at home. They have just planted and crops are not yet ready for harvesting. In the camp, she could offer her labour to cultivate other people’s land and buy food with the earnings.
And her house is not ready, she adds. The grass for the thatched roof has not yet matured.
According to camp leader, Michael Erau, some people keep two houses: one in the village and one in the camp, just in case. Kony might be in Congo but he is still alive and free. Tubur rock, where the rebels used to perform their rituals, is a constant reminder of Kony’s alleged magical power. But it is mainly the Karamajong rustlers disturbing them these days. Two weeks ago, they stole 28 cattle in the area. All were later recovered. Orungo is illustrative for the whole region. Of the estimated 483,000 Teso people displaced at the peak of the LRA insurgency, 300,000 have gone back home. Those remaining keep one leg in the camp, mainly out of fear of Karimojong attacks.
“Karimojong are the biggest threat now,†confirms Sam Oinya, the District Disaster Preparedness Coordinator of Soroti. “In Kaberamaido, 98% of people have returned to their villages. In Katakwi, which is bordering Karamoja, only 20% have gone home.†A similar pattern can be observed in neighbouring Lango. While all displaced people in the southern part of Lira district had voluntarily returned home by August 2005, others keep commuting between the camp and the village. A UN assessment in Lira district in March 2006 found that over 55% of the displaced in the camps visited had partially or permanently returned to their villages.
The services offered in the camp, such as health care, education and food distribution, and the assistance promised to those who return home, are some of the reasons why people are holding on. But the hut in the camp is mainly kept as a potential refuge in case the security situation deteriorates. Any LRA attack or Karimojong raid, even miles away, can make people run back to the camp. “Our problem is now mainly cattle raids,†says Salim Oryem, camp leader of Aloi, one of the biggest camps in Lira. “The Karimojong came up to here last February and stole cattle from Alebtong.â€
The constant movement of people from urban centres to rural camps and from rural camps to the village, makes it almost impossible to establish the number of internally displaced people in northern Uganda at any given time. However, recent claims that nearly two million people are still displaced by the LRA war and the general belief that northern Ugandans have been living in camps for 20 years, are not correct.
In fact, the first camps were established in September-October 1996 in Gulu as a result of intense LRA activity in places like Atiak, Anaka, Koch-Goma, Opit and Pabbo. In Kitgum, it was the massacres in Lokung and Padibe in January 1997 that drove the first people from their homes to the trading centres and to Kitgum town.
According to a USAID assessment by Robert Gersony, a total of 140,000 people were displaced by April 1997. A UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report of August 2005, quoted by the International Crisis Group, confirms that the number of displaced people in early 2002 stood at 150,000.
The main displacement took place after June 2002, when the LRA camps in Sudan were dismantled, prompting the LRA to reinvade Uganda. When the rebels struck Lango and Teso regions in mid-2003, the displaced population might have briefly peaked two million. But hundreds of thousands started returning to their villages at the beginning of 2005. By mid-2005, the official figure of displaced people, as used by both the Government of Uganda and World Food Programme, was 1.4 million. Many in Lango and Teso regions continue to go home. And many of those remaining are fearing as much the LRA as the Karimojong.
In Acholiland, where the LRA threat is still the most pervasive, decongestion is the answer for the time being, in a move to take people closer to their fields. Biria, one of the decongested camps we visited in Gulu district, is still being constructed.
It is supposed to decongest almost 10,000 people from Pabbo camp. The walls are already up, but the roofs are missing. “We are only waiting for the grass to grow,†says acting camp commandant, Oryem Simon.
Most publications put the figure of displaced people in Acholiland at 1.2 million to 1.3 million, constituting 90% of the total population. Yet, according to the 2005 census, the population of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts combined is only 1.1 million.
Interestingly, a study of the Prime Minister’s Office in the three districts of Acholiland found that, when the war ends, not everybody would go home. “If peace comes to northern Uganda, as many as one third of the IDP population may start moving out of the camps spontaneously. Another third will move if some assistance is given, while a final third will remain in the camps, at least for a while,†the Northern Uganda Internally Displaced Persons Profiling Study of September 2006 concludes.
For adolescents like Oduch Samson, the semi-urban lifestyle of the camp, the vicinity of school and the newly won freedom might be more attractive than life back in the village.
Ends