U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)
Note: The last situation report was
dated August 24, 2005
BACKGROUND
Since 1986, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, has waged an insurgency in northern Uganda, using camps in southern Sudan as a base for attacks on civilians and government forces. According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the conflict has resulted in the displacement of nearly 95 percent of the ethnic Acholi population in Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, and Lira districts. LRA tactics against civilians include murder, looting, burning houses, torture, mutilation, and abduction of children for the purposes of forced conscription, labor, and sexual servitude. In March 2002, improved relations between the Government of Uganda (GOU) and the Government of Sudan (GOS) led the GOU to launch 'Operation Iron Fist,' sending Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) to disable LRA camps in southern Sudan. The humanitarian situation in northern Uganda deteriorated as LRA forces expanded hostilities from the northern Acholi sub-region to the eastern Lango and Teso sub-regions, attacking villages and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Escalating civil conflict and violence, combined with looting and cattle raids by Karamojong pastoralists in eastern Uganda, have resulted in a humanitarian crisis spanning 19 years.
According to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), approximately 1.45 million Ugandans, 80 percent of whom are women and children, have been displaced and live in camps without adequate food, protection, water, sanitation facilities, and health care. The conflict threatens food security, even in normally productive agricultural areas. Continued insecurity also hinders the ability of relief workers to provide humanitarian assistance and deliver relief supplies. As the scale of the conflict has widened, LRA child abductions have increased. The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that the LRA has abducted 25,000 children since the conflict began, with nearly 12,000 children abducted since 2002. Up to 35,000 northern Ugandans, primarily children, have become night commuters, traveling each evening from vulnerable rural communities to spend the night in the perceived safety of urban centers.
MAP: Ongoing USG programs in Uganda (as of 14 Oct 2005)
(pdf* format-96KB)