UGANDA REFUGEE CAMP TO SHUT DOWN !
By Sarah Grainger - BBC News, Kampala.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Ugandans have started to return. The United Nations refugee agency and the Ugandan government are due to close down a camp for internally displaced people for the first time.
More than 1.5 million people took refuge in camps at the height of the 20-year civil war between rebels and the Ugandan government.
Security in northern Uganda has improved dramatically since the start of negotiations more than a year ago.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have begun their journey home.
Some 12,000 people used to live in Otwal Railway Camp.
But the UNHCR estimates that in the last year 90% of them have decided to leave and rebuild their lives in their villages.
At a closing ceremony on Tuesday, the unoccupied huts at the camp will be bulldozed and unused pit latrines will be filled in.
Camps were the only place were people in northern Uganda felt safe.
Otwal is the first of 40 camps in the north that the UNHCR aims to close by the end of 2007.
Throughout the 20 years of conflict, the Ugandan government encouraged people to move into camps to avoid attack by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
At one point there were more than 1.5 million people living in northern Uganda's 200 camps.
That number has now dropped to less than a million and it is largely thanks to the peace talks which have been taking place in southern Sudan since last year.
Marred by walkouts and delays, the talks have nevertheless brought about an unprecedented level of security in northern Uganda, which has encouraged many people to make the journey home.
But a speedy resolution to the peace process looks unlikely, with delegates currently deliberating on the tricky issue of justice and accountability.
Joseph Kony leads the LRA, which is accused of human rights abuses.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for four of the LRA's top commanders on war crimes charges.
The LRA have made it clear that they will not sign a peace deal if they end up on trial in The Hague.
Leader Joseph Kony refuses to attend peace talks in person for this very reason and remains in eastern Congo.
The Ugandan government is currently carrying out public consultations on what kind of justice those involved in the conflict should face.
Then both the government and rebels will have to return to the negotiating table to find a way forward.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Ugandans have started to return. The United Nations refugee agency and the Ugandan government are due to close down a camp for internally displaced people for the first time.
More than 1.5 million people took refuge in camps at the height of the 20-year civil war between rebels and the Ugandan government.
Security in northern Uganda has improved dramatically since the start of negotiations more than a year ago.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have begun their journey home.
Some 12,000 people used to live in Otwal Railway Camp.
But the UNHCR estimates that in the last year 90% of them have decided to leave and rebuild their lives in their villages.
At a closing ceremony on Tuesday, the unoccupied huts at the camp will be bulldozed and unused pit latrines will be filled in.
Camps were the only place were people in northern Uganda felt safe.
Otwal is the first of 40 camps in the north that the UNHCR aims to close by the end of 2007.
Throughout the 20 years of conflict, the Ugandan government encouraged people to move into camps to avoid attack by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
At one point there were more than 1.5 million people living in northern Uganda's 200 camps.
That number has now dropped to less than a million and it is largely thanks to the peace talks which have been taking place in southern Sudan since last year.
Marred by walkouts and delays, the talks have nevertheless brought about an unprecedented level of security in northern Uganda, which has encouraged many people to make the journey home.
But a speedy resolution to the peace process looks unlikely, with delegates currently deliberating on the tricky issue of justice and accountability.
Joseph Kony leads the LRA, which is accused of human rights abuses.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for four of the LRA's top commanders on war crimes charges.
The LRA have made it clear that they will not sign a peace deal if they end up on trial in The Hague.
Leader Joseph Kony refuses to attend peace talks in person for this very reason and remains in eastern Congo.
The Ugandan government is currently carrying out public consultations on what kind of justice those involved in the conflict should face.
Then both the government and rebels will have to return to the negotiating table to find a way forward.
posted by jackaranda at 8:43 am
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