11/05/2004

The Associated Press (AP) reported today that Refugees International is concerned over the lack of security in northern Uganda. In an article entitled, "Ugandan rebels weakened by army's use of helicopter gunships, but security precarious in the north," the AP wrote that the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group continues to attack villages in the north.

In the article, the AP wrote, "The Ugandan rebels continue to rape, kill and abduct civilians, forcing tens of thousands of women and children flee to town centers in search of safety every night, said Michelle Brown, senior advocate from the Washington-based Refugees International.

"The crisis in northern Uganda rivals the situation in Sudan's western Darfur region, but the international community has not mobilized an equal response to help 90 percent of the population in northern Uganda that has fled to squalid, overcrowded camps to escape the violence, Brown said.

"'We have 750 international aid workers in Darfur, but we have less than 100 in northern Uganda,' Brown said at the start of a 19-day mission to study the needs of those hit by the violence. 'The response is totally inadequate ... aid groups still are not able to access regularly people who fled their homes.'"