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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 14 April 2006

UGANDA: Army stops escorting aid workers in the north

KAMPALA, 14 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - The Ugandan army has stopped providing military escorts to convoys delivering non-food aid to war-ravaged northern Uganda but relief workers say the decision is premature because the security situation in the region is still fragile.

"There is no longer need to give escorts to whoever travels on the roads. We are moving from a bad situation to an improved security situation," army spokesman Lt Chris Magezi said by phone from Gulu, 380 km north of the capital, Kampala. "The situation is much better as most major roads are now motorable without any threat of ambushes."

Aid workers in the northern region said negotiations were going on with the army to reverse the decision. "We are asking them to reconsider," one aid worker said.

Magezi said the decision had been conveyed to all humanitarian agencies working in the region. The move would free up more troops to secure thousands of displaced civilians who are being relocated to smaller camps nearer their homes. It does not affect agencies that deliver food aid such as the United Nations World Food Programme, he added.

"Our advise to the traveling public is that they should travel between 9.00am and 5.00pm [0600 and 1500 GMT] as after that time the units that patrol the roads pull back from the roads to return to camps to undertake night assignments," Magezi said. "They are back on the roads at 7.00 am [0400 GMT] to secure the passages so that people can start to travel again at 9.00 am."

In October 2005, several agencies reduced activities in the region after two relief workers were killed in ambushes by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Three weeks ago, the rebels killed a government soldier in a raid to steal food on the outskirts of Patongo, Kitgum District. This week, sources said, two incidents happened in Pader district in which some people were abducted

However, Magezi said the security situation in the region, where a rebellion pitting the army against the LRA has been raging for nearly 20 years, had improved.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.7 million displaced from their homes in northern Uganda and forced to live in camps since the LRA rebellion started. Rebel leader Joseph Kony and his forces have been accused of massive abuses in the region including the abductions of at least 20,000 children who are used as porters, fighters and sex slaves for rebel commanders.

A joint report by 50 aid agencies working in northern Uganda, published on 30 February, said that some 146 people die each week in the region.

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but May not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006