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IRIN Web Special on the crisis in Northern Uganda
Humanitarian challenges of the northern crisis
LRA attacks on aid convoys have made food distributions a dangerous affair.
Credit: IRIN (2003)
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In response to the widespread displacement caused by the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni's government in 1996 began to create "protected villages", where displaced people came to benefit from military protection and humanitarian aid.
In recent months, however, the camps themselves have become the targets of LRA violence. Some aid workers say the rebels have begun to time their attacks to coincide with life-saving distributions of food aid. As a result, some camp residents say they now leave a portion of their meagre food rations outside their huts at night, hoping the rebels will simply take it, and leave them hungry but unharmed.
Humanitarian Access
Humanitarian operations in northern Uganda have become a risky affair for those brave enough to attempt to deliver assistance to the IDPs. Travelling to any of the 59 camps scattered around the Acholi sub-region is now only possible with heavy military escorts, and only when the security situation is calm.
Among the many aid organizations working in Uganda, only the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has established a security arrangement with the army that enables it to make daily food distributions to the camps.
Largely because of security checks, the daily aid convoy does not leave before 10.00 am. Three armoured vehicles and as many as 100 UPDF soldiers escort the convoy, which can sometimes stretch up to two kilometres in length.
"This is the only way we can protect ourselves from security related problems. We have seen similar convoys which have been attacked by rebels," Pedro Amolat, who runs WFP operations in Gulu, told IRIN.
Progress for the convoy can be slow and unpredictable, as trucks get stuck in the mud or are slowed down by security concerns. "Most of the other organisations that do not like to be escorted by soldiers have suspended their work in the field because the rebels have no respect for anything on the road," Amolat says.
Crippling insecurity
The impact of insecurity on humanitarian work is crippling. It has gravely affected the ability of NGOs to provide humanitarian services to affected populations.
Charles Uma, of the Gulu District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC), told IRIN that between April and July 2003 the LRA had burned four camps in Gulu District alone. Pabbo, the largest camp in the district, with an estimated population of 50,000, was attacked 17 times between January and July 2003.
Aside from food aid, virtually no assistance has reached the victims of these raids. "No non-food items have reached the victims. We have failed to transport them to the camps. I still have these items in store," Uma said.
"I may be required to go to the camps frequently, but I can't travel freely. We have drugs but they can't reach camps without military escort. When our programmes don't match with WFP's then we have to rely on light military escorts that usually cannot stand heavy firepower," Uma explains
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