10/15/2003

The news from Uganda is discouraging.  In the 11 months since Refugees International last visited northern Uganda, the humanitarian crisis in the country has worsened.  The Ugandan government has made no progress in ending the war.  The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continues to devastate northern Uganda, and the conflict has spread south to the Teso region, displacing up to 300,000 people since June.  Peace talks fell apart in March, and there has been no move on either side to restart them.  Sudan is reportedly still arming the LRA.  The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is a staggering 1.1 million.  That’s double the number of IDPs since Uganda began a military offensive called “Operation Iron Fist” last year.  Due to lack of security, most NGOs are unable to travel to the IDP camps to provide assistance.  Each week, the brutal and unsavory LRA abducts more children to replace those who escape or are rescued by the Ugandan military.  Although overall emergency funding for the north has increased in the past year, the humanitarian response is inadequate and belies the fact that Uganda has the fourth largest IDP population in Africa.

Despite the deteriorating situation, the government of Uganda insists that victory in its struggle with the LRA is at hand.  The government has the responsibility to protect and assist the IDPs, but it has not dedicated the resources or leadership needed to alleviate the suffering of its people.

Protection of displaced civilians, government employees working in the camps, and humanitarian agencies is the most critical need.  The displaced live in perpetual terror of LRA attacks, and often sleep in the bush at night to protect themselves.  Each night, thousands of people living near Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, mostly children who fear abduction, walk into town in search of a “safe” place to sleep.  They return to their homes the next morning, only to repeat the journey the following evening.  People interviewed by RI explained that the Ugandan army, the UPDF, is unable to protect them, and instead feel that they are protecting the UPDF.  A person in Kitgum district explained, “The soldiers receive warning that the LRA are coming, but they do nothing.  They stay in the middle of the camp instead of going after them, or run and hide when the rebels come.  We are not safe here.”  It is unclear whether this inability to protect civilians stems from lack of capacity, lack of will, or both.

With the exception of Action Against Hunger in Gulu, whose staff travel unescorted, the UN World Food Program (WFP) and its implementing partner, the Norwegian Refugee Council, are the only relief organizations that regularly visit the camps, and they do so with heavy military escort.  Other organizations have policies against travel with military escorts, and because they are unable to establish links with the LRA to secure safe passage, have determined that travel is too risky.  Government employees told us that if they were provided proper security, they would travel to IDP camps.  As a result, some agencies are calling for separate “service” convoys, but it is unclear if the UPDF has the capacity to provide the additional troops.  The best solution would be for the UPDF to secure the main roads, which would allow agencies to travel without escorts.

The assistance needs in the displaced person camps are overwhelming, especially as few agencies will travel to the camps to provide services.  When security worsened in June 2002, government employees providing services in the camps fled, which created a “service vacuum.”  The camps are overcrowded and lack adequate infrastructure to support the large numbers of people living there.  Malnutrition is high, sanitation is almost non-existent, water is insufficient, medicine is in perpetually short supply, medical care—particularly reproductive health—is generally unavailable, education is not available or of poor quality, and gender-based violence is believed to be widespread.  Prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS are estimated to be higher than the rest of Uganda outside Kampala, and condoms are unavailable.

With the exception of WFP, United Nations agencies are noticeably absent from the conflict-ridden areas of Uganda.  The UN Country Team in Uganda is focused on long-term development and has done little to respond to the humanitarian crisis.  Even agencies such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have been slow to engage in the north.  UNICEF’s lack of response is puzzling, given that the war in Uganda impacts mostly children.  The needs in UNICEF’s traditional areas of focus—emergency education, maternal/child health, water/sanitation, and child protection—are massive.  For example, all but 26 of the 164 primary schools in Kitgum district have been closed, and even if many teachers are living in the camps, there are often no school buildings or furniture, nor do children have easy access to educational materials.  Teachers also explain that they need training in educating traumatized children.

UNICEF’s recent decision to place a child protection officer in Gulu is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.  UNICEF is working with an inadequate emergency budget of only $2 million.

Donors share responsibility for the lack of attention to the humanitarian crisis in Uganda.  Donor nations consider Uganda to be a model developing country and for many years have been reluctant to recognize the severity of the conflict in the north.  Now they have begun to pay attention, at least as far as funding levels are concerned.  Funding for the UN Consolidated Appeal for Uganda is 300 percent greater than that for last year.  This figure does not include bilateral aid, which has also increased.  

This increase in support to the humanitarian emergency has not been matched by political pressure on the government to attempt to end the conflict.  The Ugandan government continues to pursue a failed military strategy.  The U.S. is probably the only country with the clout to influence Uganda, but Uganda is an ally in the war on terrorism, so the U.S. is inclined to support President Museveni’s approach to the conflict.  According to a diplomat based in Kampala, “Museveni is a good manipulator.  He’s one of three African leaders who joined the coalition [in Iraq].  The U.S. won’t force Museveni to do something he doesn’t want to do.  Using a stick against Museveni is not a U.S. option.”

The root causes of the civil war in the north are complicated, stemming from a sense of marginalization and alienation on the part of northerners, especially the Acholi people, and these problems are not easily solved.  Peace will depend on a national reconciliation process that the government, thus far, shows no inclination to initiate.

The space for negotiations continues to shrink.  President Museveni has stepped up his bellicose rhetoric against the LRA.  At this point, amnesty for LRA fighters offers the most hope to encourage rank-and-file fighters to abandon the struggle, but the Amnesty Commission has suffered from resource constraints and a lack of real commitment from the government.  The Amnesty Bill must be renewed every six months, and the President has threatened to end the amnesty process by the end of the year.  Disbanding the Amnesty Commission would be detrimental to overall peace efforts.

There are credible reports of human rights violations by members of the Ugandan security forces: rapes, looting, and use of child soldiers.  Accountability for the Ugandan government would help create an environment that would contribute to ending the 17-year long civil war.  

Refugees International, therefore, recommends that:

• The Ugandan government make civilian protection and protection of humanitarian agencies its top priority, even if this means using the army for defensive rather than offensive purposes
• UNICEF deploy an emergency team to northern Uganda and expand support for emergency education, water and sanitation activities, maternal and child health programs, and child protection training for the Ugandan government.  Additional child protection experts should be deployed in Kitgum, Pader, and Teso.
• The UN Humanitarian Coordinator work to develop a coordinated interagency emergency response and encourage the UN County Team to devote financial and human resources to meeting humanitarian needs in northern Uganda
• Donors hold the Ugandan government accountable for its role in the failed negotiations with the LRA.  Uganda’s pursuit of a military strategy is not working, and negotiations are currently the only possibility to end the war.
• Donors generously support the World Food Program in providing food to the 1.2 million IDPs, most of whom are almost totally dependent on WFP food for their survival.  WFP is currently experiencing a 35,000 metric ton shortfall.
• Donors strongly encourage President Museveni to support the Amnesty Commission and work with Parliament to approve an indefinite continuation of the Amnesty Bill.
• The Ugandan government begin to lay the groundwork for a national reconciliation process.