Preparing to start a new life

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

LIRA--Attacks on civilians by the rebels that have wreaked havoc across the region have decreased considerably, according to the Ugandan army. The security situation should improve even more rapidly if the cessation of hostilities agreement between the rebels and the Ugandan government lasts.

"The general situation in northern Uganda from the military angle is very promising," said Major Felix Kulaigye, spokesman for the Uganda People's Defence Forces. He said the LRA no longer had the capacity for large-scale abductions and mass killings, having lost the logistical support and supplies it used to receive from Sudan. The formation of a government in southern Sudan had given a fillip to efforts by the Ugandan army to defeat the LRA.

He reckoned there were 200-300 LRA fighters in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and inside Uganda were bands of between 10 and 15 fighters hiding in the bush, occasionally stealing food from farms to survive.

All these fighters, under the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Juba on Saturday, are supposed to assemble at agreed points in southern Sudan within three weeks. They will be supervised by southern Sudan forces.

However, the humanitarian effects of the conflict are still evident across the region. Years in the camps have made most internally displaced people (IDPs) virtually destitute. They lack the resources to acquire the basic necessities to restart their lives in the villages, which are now all overgrown with bush - most homes were torched by LRA fighters over the years and farms abandoned.

"We have our own land. We do not want to remain here and live in poverty for ever. We would rather go back home and till our land," said Charles Omona, a resident of Alero camp in Gulu district. Still sceptical of the peace, he said residents of the camp were not yet sure that the relative security in the area would endure, but wanted to leave the camp and move closer to their original villages to work in their fields. "Access to land is the main motivation [for the desire to return]," said Omona.

According to Francis Musa Ecweru, Uganda's Minister of State for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, the government has devised a two-pronged plan for the resettlement of IDPs in the strife-torn northern region.

"The areas that are relatively peaceful, that is Lango and Teso, are for return and reintegration; the areas of Acholi sub-region, which are a little bit unpredictable, are for decongestion. We are trying to encourage the populations from huge camps of say 40,000-50,000 to move into smaller satellite camps near their fields, of say 7,000 to 10,000 [people] so that we easily contain communicable diseases. From there they can access their fields to supplement the emergency relief that the humanitarian agencies have continued to extend to them," he said.

Under a government-supported 'decongestion programme', thousands of IDPs have moved out of the main camps to smaller settlements from where they are able to access their own farms.

But a lack of shelter material, food scarcity, a dearth of farm implements and the collapse of infrastructure and amenities such as schools, health centres and water services are all deterring people from returning home.

"If people were given building material, more people would go back home," according to Alfred Aria, the chief of Ayira parish in the Barr sub-country of Lira district. He was sceptical of government promises to provide iron roofing sheets to families wishing to return to their villages. "They have been singing that song for a long time now. The sheets are not being distributed. It's all politics," he said.

Ecweru acknowledged that people eager to build their own homes in areas declared safe enough were growing impatient with waiting for the roofing sheets. They were asking for grass-cutting tools so that they could build their huts the traditional way - with grass, mud and wattle.

"They are telling me that while 'you are preparing to bring us "mabati" [roofing sheets], we know it will take time for every family to get. Bring us sickles. The grass has matured now, we want to go and thatch our houses so that we start our lives in our homes'," the minister said.

Tired of crowded conditions in the camps, Grace Akite, 32, and her seven children moved out of Barr IDP camp two months ago and returned to her village, Atieno Ower, several kilometres away, where 120 other families have returned to fend for themselves.

"There was too much congestion in the camp. There was lack of privacy and many family conflicts," said Akite, who had lived in the camp for three years. "I feel happy here, I am growing my own potatoes," she added. But she lacked cooking pots and bedding. The only school in the village stopped functioning when residents fled, so school-going children had either dropped out of school or were forced to live with relatives in the camp in order to continue with their studies, she added.

Malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition, skin infections and high HIV/AIDS infection rates are the most common health problems in the IDP camps, according to Kames Ochama, a clinical officer at Aleb Tong health-centre in Lira.