Northern Uganda IDPs face life without UN relief
By Sharon Tibenda
9th Jan 2012: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], which is the UN’s main and the world’s biggest refugee agency announced on 6th January 2012 that it had concluded all its relief work with nearly two million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda, the majority of whom UNHCR says, have returned to their villages after several years IDP camps.
The Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees William Spindler told reporters in Geneva that UNHCR closed its office in Gulu last week, an act which effectively brought an end to its support for the camp dwellers who had been displaced from their homes by the war between the Uganda government forces the Uganda Peoples Defence Force [UPDF] and the Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA] rebels of Joseph Kony.
At the peak of the conflict in 2005, there were an estimated 1.84 million IDPs living in 251 camps across 11 districts of northern Uganda. Hostilities however died down in 2006 when the LRA was forced out of Uganda into the vast forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]. This development allowed most of the IDPs to return to their villages.
The UNHCR office in Gulu had since 2006 focused on camp management and the protection of IDPs. The agency also helped 11,600 of the most vulnerable IDPs to either return home or to integrate into communities where they lived. It also provided basic reintegration help, including water, building roads, schools, health centres, police posts and other infrastructure.
Some 30,000 displaced Ugandans are still living in four remaining camps, transit centres, and in local communities. According to UNHCR, returnee assistance programmes have now been integrated into Uganda government’s long-term development plan to ensure a smooth transition from relief to recovery.
UNHCR also handed over its protection role to the Uganda Human Rights Commission [UHRC] which will now handle issues related to IDPs’ land and human rights. END: Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
