Friends For Peace In Africa

Basic Statistics (World Food Program)
(April 2004 number of people forced to live in IDP camps: recent number puts the current - July 2004 - total at 1.6 million)
                             
Gulu District             437,695
Kitgum District          267,078
Pader District           279,589
April 2004 Total        984,362 (Details are here:  [PDF])

NB: There are several other camps that exist but are not on the World Food Program list. E.g. in Kilak County alone the following camps exist but WFP does not have them on its list: Katikati, Lacor Seminary, Keyo, Palwong Jeng Gari, Pawel,Palukere, Okidi, Ome and Ome tedi.  There are also camps on the WFP list that no longer exist,  e.g. Guruguru camp; the people formerly in this camp have relocated to Olwal, Pabo, Awer and Pagak.  Labongogali have moved to Olwal, etc.

 Presentation on behalf of IDPs to Kacoke Madit 2000

By Stephen Ogik (Camp Leader, Opit ‘Protected Village’)
(Summarised translation by: Patrick Oguru Otto)

Thank you Mr. Chairman, government delegations and other delegates.

In my presentation, I will relate the difficulties that we, camp residents, are experiencing.

Before I do that, I will draw your attention to the peace talks that Betty Bigombe initiated in an effort to resolve the conflict. We had hoped that the initiative would bring peace but when the government refused to accept it, the situation got progressively worse. The result was that we ended up in the camps. This mainly happened in 1996. 

The following are some of our experiences:

The camps are overcrowded with very large numbers of people cramped in very small areas. 

The camps are regularly attacked by the LRA who kill, abduct and burn houses. There is very little protection from these attacks. 

Furthermore, there are two sides to the suffering that we experience:

First of all, when the LRA attacks the camps, we the camp dwellers who are supposed to be protected from danger find ourselves caught in the crossfire between the LRA and the UPDF. 

Secondly, the government army, the UPDF has also killed people in the camps. For example, a grenade was recently thrown into a crowd in Opit. 

Landmines have also been deployed near the camps, and many camp dwellers have been injured as a result. 

Another serious problem that we experience is the shortage of food. You may have heard that the World Food programme is supplying the camps and therefore assumed that we are well fed. That is not the case. We actually refer to the organisation as ‘World Food Problems’! Some time back they supplied food that was contaminated with broken glass. Many who ate it suffered horrific injuries. 

Diseases of various types are rampant in the camps, including, syphilis, AIDS and many others. 
Abductions are common, even from within the camps, these are still going on. This has caused such desperation and people feel so helpless. The IDPs have asked me to come and say that if they cannot be protected in the camps, they would rather go back to their homes – and face whatever awaits them. 

Another serious problem is that of sexual abuse of under age girls. This goes on and many girls become pregnant and are lucky if they survive childbirth. 

Recruitment into the army is another issue and we would like to know why this is still going on in the camps. Are we Acholis the only tribe that can defend Uganda? 

On the education front, we have virtually no education for our children. The facilities are inadequate with very large class sizes. In fact we are not benefiting from the so-called Universal Primary Education (UPE). 

The final messages that I was asked to convey to the conference are as follows:

We do not want to live in the camps any longer! We want to return to our villages. 

If we must stay in the camps, as a temporary arrangement, while avenues to restore peace are being sought, then please, please help to improve our living conditions and also increase the level and quality of humanitarian assistance to the camps.

Images from the Internally Displaced People’s Camp in Northern Uganda

Courtesy:  Peter Okema-Otika   POO
                 Mike Odongkara      MOO

Pabbo Internally Displaced People’s Camp

POO20 Waiting for food at Pabbo camp.

POO22 Waiting for food from UNHCR at Pabbo camp.

POO23 A woman and a young boy share out a tin of cooking oil donated by a relief agency at Pabbo Camp in 1998.

POO24 Locals share out foodstuff at Pabbo refugee camp.

POO25 Uganda government soldiers (Uganda People Defense Forces – UPDF) and their wives wait for water at Pabbo Internally Displaced People’s camp.

POO26 When will the “manna” fall?  An elderly woman looks up waiting for UNHCR staff to deliver relief supplies at Pabbo camp in 1999.

POO27 Water shortage at Pabbo camp.

POO28 A shelter/toilet at Pabbo camp.

POO29 A market day at Pabbo camp.

Awer Internally Displaced People’s Camp

POO30 Children at home in Awer Protected Village, 15 km west of Gulu town.  What can An American child say after looking at this picture?

POO31 Six-year-old Ageno Lily grinds cereals for food while her brothers and sisters look on in Awer camp.

POO32 Woman with a baby stands in front of her hut at Awer protected camp.

POO33 Constructing a local school at Awer camp in 1999.

Awere Internally Displaced People’s Camp

• The Face of Human Rights Abuses
• The Orphans
• Poverty
• Impact on schooling