The Daily Monitor reports that Democratic Party candidate John Ssebaana Kizito has pledged to set up planned villages and estates for people living in camps in northern Uganda to improve their lives. He said, “The current government has failed to improve people’s lives in the north for over 20 years, hence a great need to take over power from the current leaders”. Ssebaana was addressing a crowd at Aloi internally displaced people’s camp in Lira district on Thursday.

He said Museveni and his government were using the northern war to solicit funds from donors for their own benefit. Ssebaana said Museveni herded people in camps to grab their land. Ssebaana said the northern region needs a comprehensive rehabilitation programme to compensate for the lost years. Ssebaana said, “The war will come to an end under my government through negotiation. Only 20 years are enough for a serious government to end any insecurity,” he said.

The UN’s World Food Programme will cut food aid to IDPs in northern Uganda beginning in 2006. A WFP official in Kitgum said that the decision was based on a study that showed that IDPs have been able to farm more crops in the past year than in previous years. Read more at Angola Press.

The New Vision reports that Otuke MP Daniel Omara Atubo has vowed to hold a demonstration if the government does not address the insecurity situation in the internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the north. He said this at a security meeting at Lira district council hall on Thursday.

The UN announced yesterday the launch of anti-landmine project aimed at Uganda, Sudan, and Somalia. Over 2,000 people have been killed by landmines in the past five years in Uganda alone, and unless removed the landmines will prevent many IDPs from returning to their homes. Besides removing landmines, the project also hopes to assist the victims of landmine explosions and their families. Read more at ReliefWeb.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (formerly Global IDP Project) have updated their information on internally-displaced peoples and conditions in northern Uganda. Click here to read a full overview of the report.

According to their research, the situation endured by most of the nearly 2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Uganda continues to worsen as rebel attacks have caused fresh human displacement. In early November a spate of attacks committed by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on humanitarian workers as well as renewed ambushes on civilians hindered relief operations to a displaced population heavily reliant on assistance. The attacks on international humanitarian organisations signal a change in LRA strategy as they mark the first time the LRA has directly targeted representatives of the international community. The attacks come in the wake of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for the LRA’s top commanders. As a result of the presence of LRA fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), many fear that the area of conflict and displacement will spread to Uganda’s West Nile region.

Today's Daily Vision reports that Uganda's Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya has assured IDPs in the Lango sub-region that they will be able to return to their homes by the end of the year. Several weeks ago Pres. Museveni promised IDPs in the Lango and Teso sub-regions that they would be able to return home by the end of the year and that the government would provide them with six months of resettlement assistance.

Uganda-CAN welcomes the calls for resettlement, but urges the Ugandan government to also pursue an end to the conflict itself by taking advantage of the recent interest in peace talks shown by the LRA.

Reuters AlertNet reports that continued attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda have made it difficult for humanitarian workers to assist about 2.5 million people in the region to meet their basic needs, a senior UN official said on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of the UN's 2006 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for Uganda, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Mogwanja, said since 2004, the region had "witnessed renewed attacks by the LRA on the civilian population and more recently even on humanitarian workers".

"Let me unreservedly condemn these attacks on innocent civilians and humanitarian workers as serious violations of international humanitarian law," he added. "I call again on the LRA and its supporters to immediately cease attacks on civilians and humanitarians workers and to release all the abducted children immediately." Read more here.

The Daily Monitor reports that the government has been asked to give security and other basic needs to the internally displaced people in Lira before they return to their homes from the camps. During an interview last Wednesday, MP for Otuke county in Lira district, Daniel Omara Atubo, told Daily Monitor that the people were waiting for communication from the government guaranteeing their safety.

"We have no problem with people going back to their homes but government must provide and guarantee their security together with the necessary requirements," Atubo said.
This comes after a recent directive by President Yoweri Museveni, that people in the IDP camps of Lango and Teso regions should be resettled back in their homes. In his statement, Museveni said government would feed the people moving back to their homes for six months while supplying them with planting materials and seeds.

The Daily Monitor reports that thousands of displaced persons in the districts of Pader and Gulu were left homeless after fire destroyed their huts in four different internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps. Read more here.