African Unification Front
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August 1, 2001
Over 80,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Katakwi District, eastern Uganda, are in urgent need of improved security to protect them from attacks by Karamojong pastoralists, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). "The overall need for efficient security in the district cannot be emphasised enough," it stated in an assessment of displacement in Katakwi, released late last week. According to district statistics, there are currently 88,623 IDPs in 46 camps in Katakwi, from an estimated total population of 230,000.
Displaced people in the camps in Katakwi were suffering unusually high rates of malaria, diarrhoea, intestinal worms, upper respiratory tract infections and pneumonia, according to OCHA's assessment. Many of the camps were isolated, and IDPs had to travel an average of 15 km on foot to reach a health centre, it said. OCHA described the sanitation situation within the camps as "a time bomb just waiting to explode" and decried the inattention that these long-term IDPs had received from the government and international aid agencies. [for more details, see separate IRIN story of 1 August headlined UGANDA: Karamojong force over 80,000 into IDP camps]
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