PHOTO ESSAY
In this section:
War Forces Northern Ugandans into Camps
War Forces Northern Ugandans into Camps
NORTHERN UGANDA—Hunger, disease, and violence
are part of everyday life for over a million internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in Northern Uganda, where 19 years of war have
forced 85 percent of the region’s residents to leave
their homes and move into cramped camps.
Thousands of children and adults are abducted by the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group headed by Joseph Kony,
a self-proclaimed mystic without a clear political agenda.
The LRA—which the Sudanese government once funded and
the United States classifies as a terrorist organization—operates
across the border between Sudan and Uganda.
Rebels have abducted more than 20,000 children since 1988.
Boys and girls are trained as fighters, and girls are assigned
as commanders’ “wives.” Both sexes are used
as porters.
The LRA also routinely attacks and mutilates civilians while
they seek food or water outside the camp, on the roads, and
even within the camps.
In the north, poverty and disease levels are higher than
elsewhere in the country. There are few paved roads. Entire
generations have fallen outside of the education system, which
is in shambles in the region.
USAID supports various programs in Northern Uganda, including
half of the food aid that goes to the region’s 1.4 million
IDPs. The Agency provides water and sanitation and primary
healthcare for dozens of camps. It funds centers that provide
medical, psychological, and other help for former abductees.
USAID also supports some income-generation activities in and
around the camps, and assists various hospitals and clinics.
This photo essay looks at various camps throughout Northern
Uganda and difficulties their residents face daily.
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A few dozen people line up for food aid. Displaced
people risk being killed, mutilated, or abducted by
attempting to plant crops close to the camps or searching
for wild foods where rebels roam.
Debbi Morello, World Food Organization |
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Thousands of children in camps around Northern Uganda
are malnourished and receive therapeutic feeding. Malaria
is believed to be the number one killer of children
under 5, with mortality rates ranging from 25 to 60
percent. Insecticide-treated bednets and medicines are
in short supply.
Silvia Morara, AVSI |
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Children huddle together at Labuje camp, in Kitgum.
To protect themselves, 18,000 people walk from camps
and nearby villages to town centers in the late afternoons.
These “night commuters” spend the night sleeping
huddled close together wherever they find space, on
veranda floors or building hallways. Most of them are
children.
Gina Bramucci, AVSI |
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A boy walks among a group of women coming back from
a World Food Program (WFP) distribution point in Atiak,
about 30 kilometers from the border of Sudan, in northern
Uganda. A two-decade conflict in this region has displaced
some 1.8 million people. Today, more than 75 percent
of the population in northern Uganda depends on food
aid.
Debbi Morello, World Food Organization |
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Two women share a laugh in Gulu. Both had their lips
cut off by rebels—a punishment commonly inflicted
on women who are washing clothes, looking for firewood
or food, or doing other chores in the vicinity of the
camps. This photograph is a part of an exhibit to begin
August 22 in the Russell Senate Office Building, Washington,
D.C.
U.S. Embassy, Kampala |
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