On 15 June 2003, rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) invaded
Katakwi district and caused massive displacement of the local population.
The initial attack began in Alito parish in Obalanga sub-county and
later spread to all the sub-counties in Amuria and Kapelebyong counties
and Abwokodia parish in Usuk County - all in Katakwi district. Subsequently,
the attacks spread into Kaberamaido and Soroti districts later in
the month of June 2003.
Currently, about 200,000 people have been displaced in Teso (an estimated
150,000 come from Amuria and Kapelebyong counties in Katakwi district)
and about 2,000 children have been abducted of which 25% have either
been rescued or escaped leaving 75% still in the hands of the rebels.
ACT member the Lutheran World Federation – Uganda (LWF – Uganda)
reports that the rebels have killed more than 110 people and caused
massive destruction of property in the district and brought life to
a virtual standstill.
The government responded to the June attacks with deployment of a
militia force called locally "Arrow Group" (these are volunteer fighters
from the old Teso rebel army and the Uganda People's Army, which made
peace with the Government in the early 1990's) to support the Uganda
People's Defence Forces (UPDF) in the fight against the LRA. The "Arrow
Group" had several clashes with the rebels in different places and
was able to push them to front-line sub-counties of Obalanga, Orungo,
Rungatuny and Kapelebyong. Although the security situation stabilised
within two weeks, attacks soon resumed on a hit and run basis.
On 26 and 27 July 2003 the District Disaster Management Committee
in collaboration with the Civil Society Organisations (including LWF)
carried out a comprehensive assessment of the IDPs situation. The
assessment revealed that 70% of the newly displaced people had been
absorbed into old camps while 30% were assimilated into the villages
where they lived with relatives and friends or rent space in the trading
centres. The IDPs come from the neighbouring counties of Amuria and
Kapelebyong. Altogether, there are close to 150,000 IDPs currently
living in different parts of the district, the largest, Obalanga and
Amuria camps have populations of 29,700 and 11,432 respectively. The
IDPs totally rely on the hosting communities for every bit of their
survival. Their presence is stretching the coping mechanisms of the
host communities to the full. Food stocks are rapidly becoming depleted
and, as the IDPs have no access to their own crops due to insecurity
and distance, the hosts have had to start harvesting their crops prematurely
in order to meet the increased food needs.
Unless the IDPs are able to access their agricultural fields within
the next month, there is a possibility of very serious food insecurity
and hunger for the next twelve months.
Other urgent basic needs are; non food items, water and sanitation,
medicines, shelter materials, blankets and mosquito nets.
The Lutheran World Federation would like to provide assistance to
over 2,000 households of newly displaced people in the counties where
they have operational programs. LWF Uganda has just completed implementation
of an ACT appeal (AFUG12) program in the Kitakwi district providing
emergency water and sanitation services. LWF has indicated that it
is in the process of preparing an ACT appeal proposal.
