DATE=2/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=W-F-P / UGANDA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258943
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations World Food Program, W-F-P,
says tens of thousands of people in northern Uganda
have been fleeing from violent attacks by rebels of
the so-called Lord's Resistance Army. As Lisa Schlein
in Geneva reports, W-F-P says a surge in fighting over
the past six weeks has left an estimated 100-thousand
people homeless.
TEXT: The World Food Program says the rebels have
concentrated their attacks in the northern Ugandan
regions of Kitgum and Gulu. Christiane Berthiaume of
the W-F-P says more than 100-thousand people have fled
their homes and have gone to nearby urban centers in
search of safety.
/// BERTHIAUME ACT ///
Those people are simply running for their lives
because these rebels do launch attacks against
their villages, burn everything, kill people,
kidnap other ones. So, these people are running
and as usual they are not taking anything with
them because they don't have the time.
Everything that belongs to them is left behind
them and they rush near the cities in the hope
to have more security.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Berthiaume says this latest group of displaced
people has gone to sites already overcrowded with more
than 300-thousand people who have fled previous
attacks on their villages. The Lord's Resistance Army
has been fighting against the Ugandan government for
years. The rebels have kidnapped thousands of
children and taken them to their base in Southern
Sudan. Ms. Berthiaume says the resurgence of fighting
is having a devastating psychological effect on those
people who have been displaced for years. She says
they had been hoping to go home soon.
/// BERTHIAUME ACT ///
In 1999, there's been what we could call a
relative peace in the northern part of Uganda.
And, many people during the day were going back
home to work their land and repair their houses
damaged by the war. Unfortunately, these people
won't go back in the near future. So, it's very
discouraging for them.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Berthiaume says the World Food Program is getting
ready to deliver large quantities of food to the more
than 400-thousand displaced people in northern Uganda.
But, before the trucks can start rolling, she says the
agency has to get the go-ahead from the United Nations
that it is safe for the operation to begin. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/JP
08-Feb-2000 10:49 AM EDT (08-Feb-2000 1549 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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