Top WFP Official Calls for End to Tragedy in Northern Uganda

[seemslikeadream]

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

March 18, 2004
Posted to the web March 18, 2004

Nairobi

The wanton violence and killing in northern Uganda that has created one of Africa's largest displaced populations must end, said Sheila Sisulu, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) deputy executive director on Thursday.

"What I saw in Pabbo camp in Gulu District is totally unacceptable under any circumstances," said Sisulu in a statement issued by WFP. "Atrocities against innocent civilians must cease immediately, and all parties must work tirelessly to end this conflict."


An 18-year rebellion has forced over 1.5 million Ugandans to flee their homes. WFP said most were huddled together in camps where they lived in permanent fear of rebel attacks such as that on Barlonyo camp, near Lira town, on 21 February in which 337 people were murdered.

The displaced families, it added, were afraid to work their fields and had become dependent on food aid. As many as 30,000 children have been abducted to work as porters, child soldiers and serve as 'wives' of rebels, since the rebellion began in the 1980s.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403180092.html



When visitors come to Credit Association meetings children crowd around and play. This little boy enjoyed mugging for the camera while his mother made a loan repayment at her meeting.
http://www.freefromhunger.org/uganda/boy_points.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. Christian Aid partners help children

17 Mar 2004 10:22:00 GMT
Christian Aid partners help children targeted by the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda


Christian Aid - UK
Website: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/news
The 18-year war waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) against the Ugandan government has been characterised by its ferocious brutality against civilians and the abduction of children. It is estimated that between 25,000 to 30,000 children have been taken since the war began.

The children are forced to walk for miles tied together at the waist and carry heavy loads of looted food and weapons. They are then trained as child soldiers or given as wives to rebel commanders.

The Concerned Parents Association (CPA) was set up in 1996 to help the parents of these abducted children and to reintegrate the children who manage to escape. The CPA, which is Christian Aid partner, now represents over 3,400 families in 121 support groups across northern Uganda.

In the dusty, small town of Kitgum, close to the border with Sudan, the CPA has set up a reception centre for escaped young people. Most are need of serious medical help, many have walked for miles with little food or water and may also have battlefield wounds. Staff at the centre try to trace and help reconcile them with their families and their communities.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/imagerepository/fromthefield/107951927797__mainjpg

[demdave]

2. The U.N. doesn't even know how to spell Africa.