William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

World Vision is one of many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that has suspended its operations in the regional districts and to areas beyond 8 kilometers out of towns. World Vision lead coordinator Mr. James Otim told Uganda-CAN today that what happened in Pader was very unfortunate and that it would slow down their operations in the region.

He said this is the first time that the LRA has been targeting NGOs in the region. Finally, he remarked sadly that this will mean more suffering for the people of northern Uganda, who rely on NGOs for basic necessities.

Uganda's New Vision reports that police and military personnel are undergoing training exercises to prepare them to de-mine northern Uganda next month. Mines are to be removed to prepare the way for decongesting the region's camps for displaced people.

“We are beginning with Soroti district and then roll out the programme to Lira. Our aim is to have IDP camps at parish level of about 20,000 people. This will enable them to grow their own crops and bring them nearer their homes,” Martin Owor, of the Prime Minister's office, said.

Uganda-CAN applauds these efforts and calls for them to be expanded across all districts in northern Uganda. Recent reports estimate that over 1000 people are dying per week in the camps due to poor conditions. Moving people closer to their land will allow for more careful camp plannnig and for camp residents to be productive.

An opinion piece by a Ugandan government official in The New Vision declares that an end to the northern conflict is in sight. The official writes, "AS the war in the north comes to an end, the question to ask is: what next for the north. Our brothers and sisters in the north have suffered a lot under the hands of terrorist LRA."

The editorial concludes, "Our next target as a government is to come out with a post-rehabilitation programme for northern Uganda. Negotiations on this project are ongoing under the Office of the Prime Minister. This will involve resettling the population that now lives in camps and helping them lead a normal life. There will be need for more focus in the north in terms of programmes in education, health, water and sanitation, income-generation and rehabilitation of the young people, who have known nothing but war and running to save themselves from abductions." Read more here.

ReliefWeb reports that the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, reiterated Tuesday in a press release his government's commitment to ensuring that all internally displaced persons (IDPs) in north return to their homes soon following the steady dawn of peace.

Addressing residents of Lapainat IDPs' Camp in Gulu district, Yoweri Museveni said the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) is hunting the last remnants of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) terrorist of Joseph Kony deep inside Sudan where they have fled.

Reuters Alertnet reports that TASO, a HIV/AIDS support organization based in Uganda, has announced that the number HIV/AIDS victims in Uganda is overwhelming the country's ability to provide adequate amounts of drugs and assistance to them. Although HIV prevalence rates have dropped considerably in Uganda in the past decade, many people are just beginning to develop AIDS and require prolonged treatment.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has hit especially hard in northern Uganda, where nearly two decades of conflict have prevented effective prevention and treatment campaigns. HIV prevalence rates in northern Uganda are very high owing to the concentration of people in IDP camps, lack of livelihood opportunities, and the difficulties AIDS support groups such as TASO encounter in impoverished and dangerous camps.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, provides analysis and commentary -

The views of this writer are not necessarily those of the Uganda Conflict Action Network.

The Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) is a project being funded by the World Bank to a tune of over 100 million US dollars during its first phase of 5 years of operation
for the 18 districts of northern Uganda affected by the war.

Unfortunately, the program that is meant to help in the reintergration of the population is only ending up in the hands of a few individuals.

NUSAF money is mostly spent in very expensive workshops where participants are paid 140,000 shillings for a one-day workshop, while communities have applied to access money to run small projects costing as little as 7 million shillings. Yet, 20 million shillings is being spent to organize workshops so that NUSAF can promote its image to the outside world.

I do not therefore see why the World Bank should waste so much money in trying to help poor people when the people cannot even access it.

NUSAF is yet another project of the Ugandan government under the World Bank funding that will collapse if not changed to really benefit the local population.

The US embassy in Kampala is reporting the launch of a new five year program focused on furthering the control of Malaria. The program is aimed at the most vulnerable populations in Uganda, including those in the northern region.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health has said site visits have already been carried out in Kitgum to assess the project needs before implementation. The first stage of the new program will be focused entirely on northern Uganda, and more specifically within the IDP camps.

Click here to learn more from Reuters or ReliefWeb. Check out Uganda-CAN's Speak Out page to see how you can get involved!

The World Food Programme is reporting that unless funding for food relief efforts are increased substantially by December, 1.45 Million people in northern Uganda could experience extreme shortages of food. The agency is calling for an urgent $58 million in new funds for the over 135 camps in the region.

Decades of forced internal displacement have led to an extreme lean on the WFP for the survival of nearly 90% of northern Ugandans. "This is a major operation to assist people whose livelihoods have been crushed by decades of a cruel conflict," said Daly Belgasmi, director of the WFP's Geneva office, after returning from a visit to the area.

Read more at Reuters, here, and check out Uganda-CAN's Take Action section to find out how you can help.

A report released by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Development Research and Training (DRT) cites the war in northern Uganda as a leading cause of chronic poverty in the area. The report goes on to reveal other underlying causes of chronic poverty, such as poor governance and isolation from decision-making and development initiatives. Read more at the Daily Monitor.

Although the findings in this report may seem obvious, it is necessary to firmly establish the extent of the suffering in northern Uganda in order to motivate the Ugandan government to take action. The Ugandan government has been historically reluctant to admit the extent of suffering in northern Uganda, and has recently tried to discredit reports from the World Health Organization and Human Rights Watch that attempted to expose the immense scale of the humanitarian disaster permeating northern Uganda.