Starting today, some 560,000 internally displaced persons who are currently living in camps, returning to
their homes or resettling after years of displacement will be receiving aid worth US $3.2 million from the ICRC.
The aid, consisting of grain, pulses, vegetable seed and tools (axes,
hoes, cutlasses and sickles), will be delivered to 50 camps located in Gulu, Amuru, Oyam, Kitgum and Pader districts in northern Uganda.
"We are also distributing clothing fabric, sanitary
towels, school kits and soap to make people's lives easier," said Michel Meyer, head of the ICRC delegation in Uganda.
Over 50 volunteers from the Uganda Red Cross Society and 36 ICRC staff
will take part in the operation, which is planned to last until the end of March.
"Provided that agricultural conditions and rainfall are favourable and people can safely work in their
fields, we are confident that this aid will help make the recipients more self-sufficient," said Peter Schamberger, who coordinates the ICRC's economic security programme in Uganda.
It is
estimated that the conflict in Uganda has forced over 1.7 million people to live in camps for the displaced.
The ICRC is currently striving to improve the living conditions of some 770,000
people in 64 camps by means of different water, sanitation, health and material aid programmes.
For further information, please contact:
Graziella Leite Piccolo, ICRC
Kampala, tel.
+256 772 221 994 or +256 41 341 605/6
Marco Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel.
