OCHA Uganda Humanitarian Situation Report: 01 - 31 Oct 2008

I. HIGHLIGHTS

- ROAD CONDITIONS DETERIORATE IN HEAVY RAINS, HAMPERING HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IN SOME AREAS OF NORTHERN AND NORTHEASTERN UGANDA; CROP DAMAGE REPORTED IN SOME PARTS OF ACHOLI AND TESO

- HEPATITIS E VIRUS CONTINUES TO TAKE TOLL ACROSS KITGUM, PADER; NEARLY 8,900 CASES REPORTED BY END OCTOBER

- RENEWED FIGHTING IN EASTERN DRC SPARKS NEW INFLUXES OF CONGOLESE REFUGEES IN WESTERN UGANDA

II. SECURITY AND ACCESS

SECURITY

Calm prevailed in northern Uganda during the reporting period, with no reported LRA presence or activity within the region. Of continuing concern are isolated incidents of crime involving theft, break-ins and robberies. One incident was recorded of an ambush on a vehicle in Pader District in which one person was shot and injured, and passengers were robbed of money. An increase in the theft of motorcycles was also noted in Kitgum District, where four separate incidents in one week resulted in the loss of four motorcycles from the parking lots of hotels.

General hostility persisted in Karamoja, with a noted increase in aggressive Karimojong activities over the previous month, including one ambush on a vehicle, a number of violent confrontations between the Karimojong and the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and other criminal activities, including several murders. However, incursions of illegally armed Karimojong into neighbouring districts appear to have reduced during the month. In Kitgum, for instance, no Karimojong activity was reported in October. This is attributed to the deployment of Anti-Stock Theft Units (ASTUs) and the UPDF at traditional crossing points along the inter-district borders, as well as to the increased availability of pasture in Karamoja.

Access

Poor road conditions resulting from heavy downpours hampered humanitarian access to parts northern Uganda and Karamoja. The condition of the section of road between Corner Kilak and Puranga on the Lira - Kitgum road, as well as along the Pader - Puranga road have drastically deteriorated, rendering the roads nearly impassable. In Gulu and Amuru, food aid trucks got stuck at several locations along some roads. The road between Gulu and Aswa Bridge is in a very bad state, hindering transport to Kitgum and Pader districts. In Karamoja, two bridges in Abim District - Lions Bridge (linking Abim to Matany in Moroto) and the bridge at the border with Pader - were impassable. In Lotukei subcounty, 4,500 people in Awach and Gatapwou parishes could not be reached for immunisation owing to the overflooding of a swamp. In Moroto, water logging and flooding have led to deterioration in the state of rural feeder roads in the northern parts of Ngoleriet sub-county, prompting a suspension of a planned immunisation programme in the area.