The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre has released an updates profile on the IDP situation in northern Uganda. The profile reads, "The overall security situation in northern Uganda remains fluid, as a landmark Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, signed in August 2006 by the LRA and the Government of Uganda expired in late February 2007. A number of LRA groups are reported to have re-entered northern Uganda, causing fear amongst communities and hindering ongoing return and population movement. Despite improved security, illustrated by increased access to land and freedom of movement, the majority of IDPs in Uganda live in appalling conditions with limited access to basic services." Read the full profile here.

Maintaining internally displaced people's (IDP) camps in northern Uganda costs UN agencies and non-governmental organisations $200 million a year, a new report by the British Parliament has revealed. According to the report, "Conflict and Development: Peace Building and Post Conflict Reconstruction," the international community has "taken the pressure off" the government of Uganda to provide for its own citizens. "In effect, the international community is paying $200 million per year to provide services which the government of Uganda should either be providing or for which there would be no demand if the IDPs could go home and live normal lives," the report reads in part. The report continues, "We consider that insufficient international pressure has been put on the government of Uganda to work towards either a negotiated or a military solution to the conflict." Read more at The Monitor.

The World Food Programme’s urgent appeal for funds to buy food for displaced people and other refugees in northern Uganda is yielding a positive response. The United Kingdom has pledged $13 million towards the cause. The donation followed an announcement by WFP that it would cut by half the food rations it has been distributing to internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to lack of funds. Read more at The Monitor.

The Ugandan Parliament is investigating accusations that two ministers within the Ugandan government were among a group of private investors allocated land once belonging to the Kitgum hospital. Kitgum district chairman John Komakech Ogwok testified yesterday before the Parliament that the allocated land is urgently needed by hospital officials to expand facilities for the children’s ward and staff accommodation. Read more at The Monitor.

Land is an extremely sensitive issue in northern Uganda. Many northerners, forcibly displaced from their land for over a decade, harbor deep suspicions that government officials, members of the Ugandan military and ‘private investors’ have plans to acquire land that remains the bedrock of their social structures, cultural values and economic livelihoods. Learn more about land issues by visiting the website of Uganda-CAN partner the Land and Equity Movement in Uganda.

Members of four Acholi clans clashed last week after a dispute over land ownership in Amuru district in northern Uganda. Land is an invaluable cultural and economic asset in northern Uganda, but over a decade of war and displacement has muddled land ownership claims and weakened traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Special government land tribunals, already underfunded and difficult to access for the poor, were phased out in November 2006. A report released by the UN Human Rights Council in February 2007 documented a growing number of and potential for violent land disputes. Unless traditional community-based and formal judicial mechanisms for settling land disputes peacefully are strengthened, land conflicts will continue to pose a threat to the secure return of over 1.4 million IDPs in northern Uganda to their homes. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

Constrained by a critical lack of funds, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it would be forced from the beginning of April to cut by half food rations for nearly 1.5 million displaced people and refugees in northern Uganda. Ninety percent of displaced people in the war-affected area, mostly women and children, depend on WFP for their survival. "Until we have sufficient funds to buy food locally, we will be forced from 1 April to reduce by half the amount of maize and beans that we give to each displaced and refugee family in Uganda," said WFP Uganda Country Director Tesema Negash. WFP has so far received only $37 million of the $127 million it asked donors and the government to provide for relief and recovery support in 2007. "It is vital that we do not abandon the displaced at this critical stage in the peace process," Negash said. Read more at Peace Journalism.

A new HIV/Aids survey by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization has cast doubt on the widely-held assumption that internally displaced persons and refugees are more likely to be HIV-infected than people in ostensibly more stable settings. Previous reports had indicated that war-torn northern Uganda had the highest HIV prevalence in the country. However, in northern Uganda, which is home to an estimated 1.4 million internally displaced persons, "the HIV prevalence rate is just over 8%," the report says. Because of the variance in the actual figures, the Ugandan Ministry of Health is planning to conduct a study of HIV prevalence among internally displaced people. Read more at The Monitor.

A group of LRA rebels that were found stealing food in Ngomoromo IDP camp in Kitgum were forced back into Sudan by the UPDF. A local official said about 30 rebels were involved. According to the source, the IDP camp there has more than 2,500 residents. Many of them had returned from areas in southern Sudan after the Government’s appeal for people to return home. Read more at The New Vision.

BBC News is today featuring a series of pictures displaying life for the 1.7 million people displaced in northern Uganda. Progress in improving conditions and allowing IDPs to return home is now hanging in the balance as the future of the Juba peace talks remains uncertain.