UGANDA: Karamajong raids leave 135,000
displaced
With drought continuing to bite in Karamoja
district, northeastern Uganda, violent raiding and looting by Karamajong
warriors in the neighbouring districts of Katakwi, Lira, Kitgum, Soroti
and Kumi, has lead to widespread displacement, OCHA reported in its latest
humanitarian update. The Karamajong, who habitually raid neighbouring districts
during periods of drought, are this year reported to have combined looting
with rapes, killings and violent beatings of a previously unknown dimension.
This has possibly been triggered by frequent government pledges to disarm
the warriors, OCHA stated.
The attacks, which are still ongoing, have resulted in an estimated 135,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), with some 80,000 people displaced in Kitgum district, 35,000 in Katakwi, 15,000 in Lira, 2,500 in Kumi and 2,500 in Soroti, the report said. WFP was providing food assistance for the IDPs, and NGOs were trying to address health, water and sanitation needs in conjunction with UNICEF, but the need for shelter and non-food items was yet to be addressed. Above all, "there is an urgent need for security in the region or the situation of IDPs will deteriorate", OCHA warned.
UGANDA: Museveni vows to tackle lawlessness
The Karamajong had changed tactics in recent weeks and were now moving in small raiding groups of between three and six, independent sources told IRIN. They sometimes even occupied abandoned homes and took everything left behind by the displaced, including food from the gardens. At the moment, Katakwi was a priority area for humanitarian response but Kumi and Soroti would require rapid intervention if Karamajong raids continued unabated. The sources warned that the raids would continue for as long as Kotido and Morito continued to be drought-affected and the Karamajong had access to guns. President Yoweri Museveni, touring the northern areas affected by the Karamajong raids this week, said the government was determined to solve the insecurity caused by Karamajong raiders. He said the government would recruit paramilitary Local Defence Units (LDUs) in Karamoja and neighbouring districts, as well as deploying the Ugandan army in the region.
UGANDA: LRA activity restricts relief efforts
Ongoing insecurity due to the presence and sporadic operations of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has meant that relief efforts for displaced and vulnerable populations have remained largely suspended in the northern Gulu and Kitgum districts, according to the OCHA report. Though there is a large presence of humanitarian agencies in the two districts, most operations are limited to towns because they lack security clearance to go into the field very often. The LRA has rejected the government's amnesty law and continues to launch attacks in the area. The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) on Tuesday killed Lt-Col Onen Kamdulu, second in command of the Opiro group of the LRA that had been active in Gulu district, during a fierce battle at Kilak Hills in Adjumani district, the semi-official 'New Vision' reported. That was the first serious clash between the LRA and UPDF since late March and thwarted planned LRA abductions from Lira and Gulu districts, the report quoted acting 4th Division Commander Colonel Julius Oketta as saying.
UGANDA: Debt relief decision delayed over presidential jet
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday delayed the final verification of Uganda's inclusion in the enhanced Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative as a result of the government's recent decision to spend US $36 million on a presidential jet, Britain's 'Financial Times' reported on Wednesday. Tuesday's decision followed a controversial delay last week by the boards of the IMF and World Bank in granting full debt relief to Uganda because of strong objections to the proposed airplane purchase, the report added. It quoted an IMF spokesman as saying that a decision should be reached within days, after consultations with the Ugandan authorities.
Meanwhile, Ugandan Finance Minister Manzi Tumubweine assured parliament this week that the planned purchase of the jet would not jeopardise debt relief plans with the World Bank and the IMF. "We are working on that one," Tumubweine said, adding that it would be more expensive to hire a jet every time the president had to travel.
TANZANIA: World Bank to give US $1.2 billion debt relief
As the fourth country (after Uganda, Mauritania and Bolivia) to qualify for debt relief under the HIPC initiative, Tanzania is to benefit from US $1.2 billion relief over 20 years from the International Development Association, the 'soft-loan' arm of the World Bank, an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) briefing paper stated on Tuesday. This is equivalent to almost 70 percent of Tanzania's debt-service obligations to the World Bank, it said. In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would provide a debt relief package worth US $152 million over 10 years - covering 58 percent of debt-service payments due to the Fund - the EIU said.
For its part, Tanzania is to prepare and implement a poverty reduction strategy for spending the debt savings, introduce a national campaign against HIV-AIDS and maintain macroeconomic stability.
TANZANIA: Ministry worried by drug-resistant malaria
The ministry of health has expressed concern at the increasing ineffectiveness of chloroquine in tackling malaria and recommended other drugs in its place. News organisations quoted Deputy Minister of Health Tatu Ntimizi as saying that between 1997 and 1999 had shown plasmodium malarial parasites to have a strong resistance to chloroquine, and a failure rate for the drug of almost 52 percent in malaria-prone regions. The ministry now recommended preventive rather than curative measures, and the use of fansidar, amodiaquine and comaquine for malaria treatment, she said.
KENYA: Pastoral areas worst hit by food uncertainty
The food supply situation is critical in northern, eastern and northwestern pastoral districts of Kenya, and in parts of Central, Coast and Rift Valley provinces affected by droughts during the 'short rains' late last year, an FAO report stated on Tuesday. The price of maize, the key staple in the country, had risen sharply in most parts - affecting food access for a large number of people - and latest indications were that 2.5 million mt of maize would have to be imported this year, it said. Though planting for the 'long rains' (April/May) was well underway, the yield prospects were uncertain due to erratic and insufficient rains so far, the report added. Some 2.7 million people in Kenya have been identified as drought-affected by WFP.
KENYA: 26 killed in cattle rustling shoot-out
A cattle raid - believed to be carried out by members of the Pokot tribe - followed by a gun battle with police claimed 26 lives in the Samburu district of central Kenya on Wednesday, news organisations reported. Police spokesman Peter Kimanthi said the cattle-raiders attacked a Turkana homestead, killing nine people and driving off a large number of cattle. Police tracked the bandits to Soito Kikuyu village, about 250 km north of Nairobi, and shot dead 17 bandits when they were engaged in a heavy gunbattle, the Associated Press agency (AP) quoted Kimanthi as saying. The police suffered no casualties and four cattle raiders were arrested, the report added. Some 850 cattle, 240 camels and 470 goats were recovered, the police said. Cattle raiding is endemic among pastoralist communities in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia but the level of associated violence has intensified in parallel with an increased availability of guns in recent years.
[ENDS]
[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]
[This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000