Uganda Crisis

[J @ M @ L]

GENEVA (Reuters) - International pressure is urgently needed to end the war in northern Uganda where one of the most neglected humanitarian crises in the world has displaced nearly 2 million people, a U.N. official said.

"We need massive international pressure, concentrated and sustained. It has been 20 years and it has got to be stopped," said Dennis McNamara, special U.N. adviser on displacement, referring to the Uganda's war with the shadowy Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

McNamara, just back from a week-long visit, said on Friday that while the LRA was guilty of continued atrocities, the government of President Yoweri Museveni had also "failed in its obligation" to assist and protect refugees who fled the fighting.

According to U.N. estimates, the mortality rate in some 200 camps housing some 1.7 million refugees was twice that of Sudan's Darfur, with more than 1,000 people dying each week -- many of them women and children -- from disease and violence.

"This is one of the longest, largest, and least addressed humanitarian crises in the world," said McNamara. "It has uprooted as many people as the Bosnian war did 10 years ago, but gets only a fraction of the international attention."

He noted that according to a group of 50 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Oxfam and Save the Children, the     U.N. Security Council had yet to even pass a resolution condemning what was happening in Uganda.

"It (the situation) is extremely grave and unlikely to get better unless we take much more serious action," McNamara told a news conference.

The LRA is led by self-proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony, 44, who appears to have no political agenda, though he has said he wanted to establish rule based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.

Although the Ugandan government said the LRA, infamous for mutilating civilians and kidnapping an estimated 20,0000 children to act as soldiers or sex slaves, had been reduced to "a remnant" by army action, that was not the view of villagers in the north, who described them as still strong, he said.

More than 10,000 people in northern Uganda trudge miles every night to sleep in towns rather than risk abduction from their villages.

Civilian militias were supposed to protect the refugee camps, but in the northern town of Kitgum they had not been paid for 10 months and were refusing to confront the rebels, McNamara added.

While the LRA carried out regular atrocities, army personnel were also guilty of attacks on women in camps in the lawless north, he said.

He said the  United Nations planned to increase its presence and humanitarian programs in the north next year. To do so, the world body would be seeking $220 million in funding up from $188 million in 2005.

But the biggest problem remained security, both for local people and for the international aid community trying to help.

[K A I N]

Damn, Africa is a fucked up country 

[J @ M @ L]

Damn, Africa is a fucked up country 

They should lie to the world and say they discovered a shitload of oil... the U.S. will be there in an instant to "liberate" every fucking country

[makaveli11]

^hahahahaaaaaaa...true.

[J Bananas]

yeah i knew the fags here would somehow drag America in to this, whatever, when you're number 1 theres bound to be envy

[J @ M @ L]

yeah i knew the fags here would somehow drag America in to this, whatever, when you're number 1 theres bound to be envy

Nah... it's not America's problem... but neither is Iraq, neither was Iran back when they installed the Shah, neither was Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc...

If it doesn't affect America's stability or it doesn't financially benefit America, then there's no reason to go there... but if one of these circumstances does exist, then we're there to "HELP THE PEOPLE"... so if we're really out to help people, then why doesn't Uganda get any attention?

[Real American]

They should lie to the world and say they discovered a shitload of oil... the U.S. will be there in an instant to "liberate" every fucking country

We sent our troops to Somalia ten years ago for humanitarian purposes but then rebels started killing our troops and we had to bring them back. Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down?

Please educate yourself.

[africas seed]

africa isnt a fuckin country its a continent

[J @ M @ L]

They should lie to the world and say they discovered a shitload of oil... the U.S. will be there in an instant to "liberate" every fucking country

We sent our troops to Somalia ten years ago for humanitarian purposes but then rebels started killing our troops and we had to bring them back. Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down?

Please educate yourself.

I know about Somalia, but what's your point, Polack?

[J @ M @ L]

If it doesn't affect America's stability or it doesn't financially benefit America, then there's no reason to go there...

You brought up Somalia. Have you ever heard of the Cold War? You should... your father was a Polish Communist... anyways, the Soviets and Americans both considered Somalia important because of its location (Red Sea and Persian Gulf)... both sides were involved in the conflict between Somalia and Ethipia... so it didn't start with us just wanting to help the people... that came after Here is a little excerpt for you, Polack:



Throughout this period, the United States continued to maintain good relations with Siad Barre because of the overriding imperative of maintaining military access to Berbera. In mid-1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, setting off a major security crisis in the Persian Gulf. It was for such a contingency that the U.S. had maintained strong ties with Siad Barre, despite his invasions of Ethiopia and his despicable human rights record. But in an irony of ironies, the American military suddenly found itself welcomed to the Persian Gulf and was able to base its fighting units inside Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in preparation for the fight to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. Thus, the United States did not need Berbera in the Gulf War, and the reason for the friendship with Siad Barre fell away.

By early 1991, Siad Barre had been driven out of office and out of Somalia by his clan enemies, the Cold War had formally ended, and the Dergue regime in Ethiopia had been defeated and replaced by Tigrayan and Eritrean guerrilla armies. Unlike Ethiopia, where a new government was able to restore order and take control expeditiously, Somalia fell into a state of anarchy after Siad Barre's departure. Mogadishu was especially hit by clan warfare, lawlessness and banditry. The newly constructed U.S. Embassy was invaded by bandits, with the entire American staff and diplomats from other nations escaping on helicopters sent by the American military operating in the nearby Gulf war. Thus, in January 1991, it looked as if the United States had reached the point of forgetting about Somalia, which in strategic terms had reverted to being just another troubled backwater.

But Somalia could not be forgotten. By early 1992, in the absence of a central government, the country's humanitarian situation was becoming disastrous. This was especially true in southern Somalia, where marauding clan armies were fighting over the different quarters of Mogadishu, as well as the cities of Baidoa and Kismayu. With the security situation so dangerous, farmers were unable to plant and harvest. Efforts by the United Nations and private relief organizations to deliver food to the hungry were thwarted by warlords who were using relief goods as bargaining chips for money and power."


Now go fuck yourself.

[Sikotic™]

They should lie to the world and say they discovered a shitload of oil... the U.S. will be there in an instant to "liberate" every fucking country

We sent our troops to Somalia ten years ago for humanitarian purposes but then rebels started killing our troops and we had to bring them back. Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down?

Please educate yourself.

Well what are the Iraqi people doing to the troops right now? Fact of the matter is

They should lie to the world and say they discovered a shitload of oil... the U.S. will be there in an instant to "liberate" every fucking country

[Kal EL]

after centuries of tinkling from western countries and constant support of dictators by the World Bank this is what happens.

[cska-moscow]

We sent our troops to Somalia ten years ago for humanitarian purposes but then rebels started killing our troops and we had to bring them back. Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down?

Please educate yourself.

Lol, we have to watch a movie to educate ourselves, go read a historical book and look for the facts rather than watch a movie that show's nothing about the situation in detail.

[Kal EL]

We sent our troops to Somalia ten years ago for humanitarian purposes but then rebels started killing our troops and we had to bring them back. Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down?

Please educate yourself.

Lol, we have to watch a movie to educate ourselves, go read a historical book and look for the facts rather than watch a movie that show's nothing about the situation in detail.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I am quite educated. this did not stop us in any other conflict, except when the countries are african.

[cska-moscow]

after centuries of tinkling from western countries and constant support of dictators by the World Bank this is what happens.

Well, firstly if the west did a good thing giving money but no, being as they are they add interest, how the hell is that going to help the nations. I would rather see the west going to Africa and making sure what they gve is used effectively rather than give money to the corrupt leaders and say "Well we did our bit".