UGANDA: DOZENS KILLED IN SECOND ATTACK ON CAMPS FOR DISPLACED THIS WEEK

NEW YORK, 21 May (OCHA) –- The United Nations Office in Uganda has received credible reports that 41 people have been killed and roughly 7000 displaced in an attack by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)yesterday on the Lukodi camp for internally displaced persons.  It is estimated that more than 200 huts were burned in the attack on the camp, which is some 12 kilometers from Gulu.  The numbers of persons injured or abducted in the attacks is not yet clear.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with United Nations and NGO humanitarian agencies and Ugandan authorities, will assess the situation in Lukodi as soon as security conditions allow.

This is the second attack on an IDP camp in the area in the past few days.  Thirty-nine people were killed on 16 May when members of the Lord's Resistance Army attacked the Pagak camp for internally displaced persons in northern Uganda.  The majority of victims were women and children, many of whom were clubbed to death.  More than 3,000 people fled the IDP camp after that attack.  These atrocities follow similar attacks against civilians in the villages of Odek on

29 April and in Barlonyo on 21 February, in which at least 190 people were murdered.

“These attacks against some of the most vulnerable civilians in the world are an outrage.  In many cases, the victims have fled attack after attack, desperate for safety.  I condemn these attacks in the strongest terms and call on the Lord’s Resistance Army to stop all abuses against civilians immediately,” said Jan Egeland, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The number of persons internally displaced by fighting, and in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection, has tripled to over 1.6 million since 2002.  Children and women, in particular, have suffered enormously.  The Lord's Resistance Army has abducted more than 10,000 children since June 2002.  All children are at risk of being abducted, forced to fight and commit atrocities, and subjected to sexual violence and sexual slavery.  To escape this fate, tens of thousands of children -- "night commuters" -- leave their homes each evening, seeking protection in towns.  In Kitgum, Gulu and Kalongo, there are 40,000 night commuters.

The United Nations has launched a Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for

$109 million to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable populations in 2004. With the year nearly half over, only some $22 million, just 20 per cent of the

funds required, have been donated.  The World Food Programme foresees a serious pipeline problem by the end of June unless funds are made available.  It remains extremely difficult to deliver humanitarian aid outside the main northern and eastern towns without the use of military escorts.  The escorts accompany food convoys to camps for displaced persons in northern Uganda.  Because of the fragile security situation, it has been difficult to maintain a humanitarian presence in these areas, meaning there is no sustainable assistance for health, education or other basic services.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York,

tel:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva,

tel.: 41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 473 4570.

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