INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Uganda's daily rate of violent deaths is three times Iraq's, says report |
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by Burning Monk Guerilla News Network Entered into the database on Sunday, April 02nd, 2006 @ 20:11:19 MST |
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Summary: That title says it all, in my opinion. There is little need to elaborate. 146 deaths a week or 0.17 violent deaths per 10,000 people per day, compared
to 0.052 per 10,000 people per day in Iraq. And still Iraq dominates the news… [Posted By BurningMonk] ______________________ By Katy Pownall in Kampala But have you heard about this in the news? The rate of violent deaths in war-ravaged northern Uganda is three times higher
than in Iraq and the 20-year insurgency has cost $1.7bn (£980m), according
to a report by 50 international and local agencies released today. The violent death rate for northern Uganda is 146 deaths a week or 0.17 violent
deaths per 10,000 people per day. This is three times higher than in Iraq, where
the incidence of violent death was 0.052 per 10,000 people per day, says the
report. “The Ugandan government, the rebel army and the international community
must fully acknowledge the true scale and horror of the situation in northern
Uganda,” said Kathy Relleen, a policy adviser to Oxfam, one of the organisations
behind the report. The report, by the Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda,
puts the cost of the war in northern Uganda at $1.7bn over the past two decades.
It says this is equivalent to the United States’ total aid to Uganda between
1994 and 2002. “Twenty years of brutal violence is a scar on the world’s
conscience. The government of Uganda must act resolutely and without delay,
both to guarantee the effective protection of civilians and to work with all
sides to secure a just and lasting peace,” said Ms Relleen. The report is being released ahead of the arrival of the UN’s humanitarian
chief Jan Egeland in Uganda tomorrow. Mr Egeland will hold meetings with non-governmental
organisations, ministers and Uganda-based UN officials before touring a camp
in northern Uganda. Almost two million people have been driven from their homes in the 20-year
insurgency, and forced to live in government-controlled camps for their own
protection. Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army hold no territory but
regularly abduct children, using the boys as soldiers and the girls as sex slaves.
The report estimates that 25,000 children have been abducted during the war. Kevin Fitzcharles, the director of Care International, said that Mr Egeland
was pushing the Security Council to act, yet none of his recommendations were
being implemented. “It is time for the Security Council to recognise that
its failure to address this crisis… undermines its credibility. The UN
must act by passing a resolution urging the government of Uganda to protect
its own people.” |