Scope: Life in camps: Uganda refugee camps short of everything except pain

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Feb 22, 2005

By Benjamin Ochan

KAMPALA, Feb 20 Kyodo - Congestion, sweltering heat, food shortage, malaria and diarrhea infections -- such are are the daily conditions in refugee camps for many of the estimated 1.6 million Ugandans internally displaced by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel war in northern Uganda.

People are frail and traumatized by the seemingly endless 19-year-old war. Huts are crowded together, leaving only narrow paths for movement.

This dry season, from November to February, fires have gutted over 300,000 huts in the camps in the three affected districts, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, leaving some dead, others injured and property destroyed.

Everything is in short supply -- water, food, firewood, bedding, cooking utensils and basic amenities. Humanitarian assistance has been delivered but is a drop in the sea in the unending war situation.

The cost of the war is high. Preventable diseases such as malaria and diarrhea and cholera are a major killer. The people's culture is also changing. People who used to till the land to grow food are now dependent on relief rations even in times of a lull in the insurgency.

The camps are heavily populated. The Kalongo camp in the Pader district has over 51,000 people, the Pabbo camp in Gulu district has over 40,000, while the least-populated camps, such as Palabek Kal near the Uganda-Sudan border, have over 25,000.

Altogether, there are over 80 camps set up by the government in the three districts.

The camps were started in 1986 in northern Uganda by the government, supposedly to protect civilians from rebel attacks. However, the LRA rebels have often attacked the camps, killing and abducting hundreds of people to conscript into their ranks.

The insurgency goes on and the displaced people cannot cultivate food crops. This has left the World Food Program (WFP) as the main provider of food aid.

Gaudensio Lakabakaba in Palabek camp said he was sharing a pit latrine with over 100 persons. ''We have a big problem as regards the toilet. Most times you have to wait for too long for some one to come out so that you can answer nature's call,'' the frail-looking man said.

And indeed just a few meters away, there stood a pit latrine with intending users hanging around and lumps of children's feces on the ground.

Lakabakaba was carrying a blanket in a torn bag, which he said had been given to him by World Vision, a humanitarian organization. A representative of World Vision in the camp said the blanket was part of the $85,000 nonfood aid donated to the displaced people by the Japanese Embassy in Uganda.

Near the stinking latrine with flies hovering about, a woman was preparing a lunch of fried beans.

Five deaths were reported in Palabek camp within three days. Three were due to malaria and two to diarrhea. Cholera was again reported in Gulu district camps after a four-month lull.

A senior health official in the area said Medecines Sans Frontieres, the international medical aid agency, had moved victims to one of the major hospitals in Gulu town. The cholera outbreak in the camps is attributed to poor hygiene due to overcrowding.

Nahaman Ojwee, the Kitgum district leader, said latrine coverage in the 18 camps in his district, which accommodate about 250 people, is only 17 percent. ''This explains why we have a lot of intestinal infections and other diseases,'' Ojwee said.

The water shortage is severe because the district lacks water bodies. Boreholes, which were sunk in villages, were abandoned because of the war. Currently, one borehole serves an average of about 5,000 people.

Uganda Red Cross Society Secretary General Robert Kwesiga said health and sanitation have become key concerns in the region. He said hygiene in the camps is deplorable.

He said aid of 1.17 million euros from the European Union and the Danish Red Cross has put in place water and sanitation programs, HIV/AIDS awareness, and a non-food relief distribution system.

But the WFP's food aid program is currently facing a problem. The LRA rebels are campaigning against the food aid program, alleging that the Uganda government has poisoned some of the food in hopes of killing the rebels. This campaign has affected relief food distribution to the people in the camps.

The plight of the 1.6 million displaced people in northern Uganda now depends on the stalled peace talks process between the LRA rebels and government. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni stopped the talks by declaring a renewed war against the rebels on Dec. 31.