{UAH} THESE ARE THE NUMBERS THAT MUST WAKE ALL OF US TO ACHOLI VIOLENCE

Land degradation and internally displaced person´s camps in Pader district – Northern Uganda  Page 153

 

Joel Charles Owona Pader District Local Government, P.O. Box 1, Pader

Supervisors Mr. Jón Geir Pétursson, The Icelandic Forestry Association

Mr. Jóhann Thorarensen, Soil Conservation Service of Iceland

 

 

2.2. Humanitarian consequences of the war

 

The 22 year conflict has recorded one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world (Okio, 2007). There have been high levels of human rights abuse which greatly affected women, children and youth. At least 20,000 youths have been abducted and forced to become soldiers in Uganda’s notorious rebel force, the Lord’s Resistance Army (Annan et al., 2006). Up to 12,000 people have been killed, with more dying from disease and malnutrition (UNOCHA, 2004). Northern Uganda has one of the world’s highest rates of mental illness that results from horrific experiences (Ocowun, 2008). A survey of 1,210 internally displaced people has found about two thirds, or 67 percent, of the respondents to be depressed and over half, or 54 per cent, to have post-traumatic stress disorder (Muhumuza, 2008). 2.3. The IDP camps The total number of people in Internally Displaced People’s Camps (IDP camps) in the Pader District (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) has been estimated by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR, 2008) to be 352,862 (172,938 males and 179,928 females). Many of those living in camps were forcibly moved into these camps by the Ugandan army (Ugandan People’s Defense Force, UPDF), on the grounds that the displacement was militarily necessary to combat the LRA and to help distinguish civilians from fighters. In certain districts, up to 95% of the population is internally displaced. The population, formerly well-fed through farming and livestock activities (CSO, 2005), was concentrated in a small number of IDP camps, devoid of animals and unable to access sufficient land to farm within walking distance of the camps. While malnutrition is most noticeable in children, it is also observed in adults. People came to IDP camps for a number of security reasons, including direct targeting by the LRA, shifts in interactions with the rebels, government pressure to move into camps, or traumatic events experienced at the household level. The UPDF soldiers and LDU militia are meant to provide protection for the camps. The soldiers maintain a security perimeter around the camps, which extends to approximately two kilometres in the daytime, allowing residents to work the surrounding land and collect natural resources in relative safety. All residents must be back inside the camp at the designated curfew or face serious consequences and disciplinary measures.

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"