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Date: 16 January 2004

A woman cooks for her family under an abandoned train carriage in a camp for internally displaced people in northern Uganda. They have fled the countryside after attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels. Photo: Greg Marinovich/Getty Images
'About 800,000 are currently displaced in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader in the region of Acholiland, and a further 100,000 in Soroti.'

Since 1986 there has been a brutal and unrelenting war in the north of Uganda, led by a rebel army called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). In mid-2003, the conflict spread eastwards, mainly around the town of Soroti in Teso region.

For 17 years the LRA has killed or mutilated thousands of innocent civilians and an estimated 25,000 children have been abducted. Many of the young boys are forced into combat while girls are often used as sex slaves.

The fear of being terrorised or caught up in the fighting between the LRA and the Uganda army has caused most of the people to seek refuge in insecure camps with little food and poor sanitation.

About 800,000 are currently displaced in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader in the region of Acholiland, and a further 100,000 in Soroti. These numbers rise each night as thousands of people, mainly women and children, come into the towns and camps seeking shelter, for fear of abduction if they remain in their houses.

Attempts to bring peace to this conflict have so far failed and religious leaders, local politicians and civil society groups are now asking the international community to help bring an end to the bloody conflict.

Christian Aid response

Christian Aid supports three partner organisations in the north of Uganda.

People's Voice for Peace, an organisation set up by displaced people, provides medical assistance and counselling to people affected by conflict and advocates for peace.

The Concerned Parents' Association, set up by a group of parents whose own children were abducted, calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all abducted children and an end to the use of child soldiers. It also cares for returned girls who have become mothers as a result of rape.

The Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative helps communities respond to conflict through lobbying, peace-building activities and advocacy.

In Soroti, long-term partners Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and the Teso Diocese Development Office (TEDDO) are providing emergency support to displaced people in camps.

HIV/AIDS prevention

YWAM is a partner whose focus is HIV/AIDS prevention through education in the community and care for those living with or affected by HIV. It is currently educating people in camps about basic hygiene, nutrition and HIV awareness in order to prevent the spread of HIV in conditions where the virus is likely to flourish. It is also providing 472 displaced families affected by HIV with household kits containing food, cooking oil and utensils, blankets and soap.

TEDDO is providing similar kits to 11,000 displaced people in isolated camps greatly in need of assistance. The kits also include mosquito nets vital for the prevention of malaria.

So far Christian Aid has given an extra emergency grant of £57,000 to YWAM and TEDDO and is planning continued extra support to all its partners to help cope with the crisis. It also funded a Christmas party for 3,700 orphaned children through an organisation called Noah's Ark.

Christian Aid and its partners are calling for the protection of civilians by the Uganda military, for renewed dialogue and a peaceful solution to the war. While Uganda has often been hailed the success story of Africa, due to the progress made by debt relief initiatives and the reduction in HIV-prevalence rates, the troubled north has long been forgotten.

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