Uganda unveils "Marshal Plan" for the conflict-ravaged north

Uganda unveiled a master plan for the war-ravaged north after nearly two decades of conflict, destruction and human degradation, a state-owned newspaper New Nation reported on Friday.

Post-conflict northern Uganda is now heading for what can be dubbed as the "Marshal Plan," a multi-million dollar recovery and development strategy to be launched next week, led by the 21 member Joint Country Coordination and Monitoring Committee (JCCMC), chaired by Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi.

JCCMC, including nine of them from the government, is tasked to improve security and living condition of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) Camps, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told a UN- organized meeting in Geneva last week.

A major challenge is to decongest the camps from 10,000 - 60, 000 persons per camp to 1,000 - 3,000 to improve service delivery and enable them get closer to their parishes and villages, according to Kutesa.

JCCMC also aims to reduce mortality rates of 378 in the camps to 0, and resettle IDPs voluntarily. It seeks to improve access to humanitarian assistance health, education, water and sanitation.

A senior government official compared the JCCMC to the 1947 plan by the United States Secretary of State, George C. Marshal, to reconstruct Europe after World War II.

In an eight page document, Kutesa said JCCMC would run from April 2006 to July 2007, and thereafter be periodically reviewed.

Besides government representatives, the JCCMC comprises of six members from the core partners group including the U.S., the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada and South Africa, four from the United Nation agencies and the rest from non governmental organizations (NGOs).

Expounding on the JCCMC strategy, the director of the Media Centre, Robert Kabushenga, said it would succeed because the Police and the army would be strengthened to repel any external threat from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and other forces, noting the government considers the war in northern Uganda over.

Meanwhile, a report, released ahead of the arrival of UN's humanitarian chief Jan Egeland in Uganda, said Thursday the rate of violent deaths in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq.

The violent death rate for northern Uganda is 146 deaths a week, or 0.17 violent deaths per 10,000 per day, the report said.

"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 organizations behind the report.

But the army said life and work in northern Uganda was steadily returning to normal after the LRA rebels were decimated and not worth talking about.

"There are no more LRA to talk about so those who talk about up- scaling our engagements with the LRA are simply daydreaming," army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said.

Public transport in, out and within the north is very normal and brisk, he said, adding that commercial traffic to southern Sudan and Kotido through Patongo, Adilang up to Abim, was bustling.

He said a total of 46 people were killed by the LRA rebels in the last six months in a statement.

The report, by the Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda, put the cost of the war in the north at 1.7 billion U.S. dollars over the 20 years, equivalent to the US's aid to Uganda between 1994 and 2002.

Source: Xinhua