HUMANITARIAN STAFF IN NORTHERN UGANDA ATTACKED

HUMANITARIAN STAFF IN NORTHERN UGANDA ATTACKED

NEW YORK, 26 October (OCHA) -- Three separate attacks on humanitarian aid workers in northern Uganda in the past two days have resulted in the death of two individuals and the injury of four others.

Earlier today, a staff member from the non-governmental organization Caritas was shot dead in an ambush, seemingly perpetrated by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Kitgum district, in northern Uganda.  The attack, which occurred in an area eight kilometres north of Kitgum Town, involved two Caritas staff members who were riding on a motor bike unescorted.  One of the riders fled, while the other was shot and killed while trying to escape, according to an eyewitness.

Also today, in Pader District, the LRA rebels ambushed aid workers from the non-governmental organization, Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD), killing one and critically injuring two.  The rebels attacked a vehicle visibly marked with the Agency's emblem.  The attack took place four kilometres from Pader Town.

The murders follow yesterday’s attack on a vehicle of the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) in Okwango, Lira District.  Two CCF staff members were injured in that attack, one of whom remains in intensive care.  The vehicle, which carried CCF-Uganda identification, was reportedly sprayed with bullets.

“This is a tragedy for those who have been killed, for their families, and for their organizations.  It is unconscionable that the Lord’s Resistance Army is carrying out these vicious attacks on unarmed humanitarian workers”, said Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.  “The people of northern Uganda are heavily dependent on humanitarian aid, and access to them is already precarious.  These attacks threaten the provision of life-saving assistance to nearly 1.7 million people.”

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 5126, mobile:  +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 9262; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel.:  +41 22 917 2653, mobile:  +41 79 473 4570.

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For information media • not an official record