The office of the Presidential Special Adviser on northern Uganda has registered over 1,800 people in the Acholi sub-region who have been maimed in the two-decade conflict. President Museveni gave a directive to register all people maimed, who can then receive plastic surgery. Richard Todwong, the special presidential advisor, said that victims need financial support for the rest of their lives since many have permanent damage like lost limbs and broken families as a result. Read more at The Monitor.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports that food insecurity for displaced people in northern Uganda will likely continue. Some 250,000 displaced people in camps in northern Uganda did not receive September rations from the World Food Programme (WFP), and other displaced people have not received food since July, after being cut off by the rains. Without new funds, WFP’s supply line for a total of 1.7 million people in Uganda will break in December. Meanwhile, UN OCHA reports that security, lack of clean water, sanitation and health facilities, and also the lack of thatching materials are critical challenges to IDP return.

President Museveni has vowed to turn around northern Uganda's fortunes by advocating industrialisation in the region despite resistance from some of the local leaders. "We want industrialisation of northern Uganda by for instance developing the sugar industry in Gulu, Amuru and Adjumani, fruit processing plants in Arua and Soroti. The government will do everything possible to set up these industries," the President said on Monday when announcing the $600 million 3-year Peace, Development and Recovery Plan for Northern Uganda. Many war survivors have long expressed fear that the government would take their land to develop large-scale industry. Such moves, without the consent of northern Ugandans, would violate their rights and perpetuate feelings of marginalization. Read more at The Monitor.

Ugandan President Museveni today pledged to rebuild the war-ravaged north with a $600-million aid package for roads, education and small-scale industry. "The goal of the present plan (is) to consolidate peace, recovery and rehabilitation," Museveni said at the launch of the Northern Uganda Peace, Recovery & Development Plan (PRDP). Museveni said the reconstruction plan aimed to help the north catch up with the more prosperous south and move away from subsistence farming to a cash economy. He also pledged to help internal refugees return home, repair roads, build a further power station on the Nile to power the region and fund processing plants for farm products. Read more at Reuters.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has started airlifting 3,000 metric tonnes of relief food items to 248,000 internally displaced persons in Acholi and floods victims in Lango. Most displaced persons have not received their food rations for July and August due to the bad roads caused by the floods, according to Bai Monky Sankoh, the head of WFP Gulu office. The flooding caused mass devastation to over 300,000 people: many of them displaced by the war in northern Uganda. Read more at The New Vision.

Last week, Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) in Gulu released a critical new report, titled "Fostering the Transition in Acholiland: From War to Peace, From Camps to Home." This report is based on HURIFO researchers spending over three months living in internal-displacement camps, conducting voluntary (not paid) interviews. To our knowledge, this methodology is one of the most rigorous of any recent report. In the report, HURIFO's strongest argument is that all external interventions should be limited to providing the "minimum effective dose" needed to let war-affected communities rebuild itself. The report says that the Acholi are not dependent on aid, and that with the necessary information, they can and should take the lead on their return and recovery. It argues that the continued humanitarian focus on making IDP camps and transition sites sustainable is violating northerners' right to voluntary return. The report says that the lack of information - on peace talks, on de-mining activity, on movement restrictions, on quality of service provision at return sites - is the biggest factor in communities being empowered to return home.

In its second section, HURIFO addresses concerns that women and youth will be disempowered in processes of return. In camp life, women and youth have taken on new leadership roles. HURIFO argues that external interventions must not now unintentionally disempower these women, especially those initiatives taking place in the name of "revitalizing traditional authority." The report further considers that control of land, if not managed with sensitivity, could be used to disenfranchise women and youth. Finally, this section also notes that many local NGO staff are exposed to widespread abuses, including long hours, sexual abuse and little job security.

The third and final section of the report emphasizes the absolute primacy of peace before considering long-term issues of transitional justice. HURIFO writes that questions of justice and reconciliation can only be dealt with legitimately and effectively AFTER the war has ended and AFTER people have returned home. In particular, HURIFO worries that transitional justice may be one-sided, not addressing human rights violations by the Ugandan government. Further, their research finds that Acholi still feel deeply betrayed by the government for its failure to protect them. They suggest that a program of compensation may be very effective toward both justice and reconciliation. Yet, HURIFO is clear: "Neither the LRA nor the government has the right to decide how accountability and justice will be addressed after the war." The report finally recommends a body of Acholi civil society, especially including women, to consider these issues and a long-term strategy for transitional justice.

Floods have forced over 50,000 people to seek shelter in six new displacement camps in the Lango region of northern Uganda. Local officials said that the new camps lacked adequate shelter, food and medicine and that the displaced are at risk of water-borne diseases such as malaria and diarrhea. Read more at allAfrica.com.

A new film released by IRIN explores processes of return and recovery and debates about justice and reconciliation currently taking place in northern Uganda. Watch or download the film online!