IDP Camps on Fire

Greetings! I am off for Gulu today...

The below article nicely complements what I was trying to explain with regard to the set up of the IDP camps and their propensity for fires.

UGANDA: Thousands left homeless by fires in northern IDP campsKAMPALA, 24 January (IRIN) - Three people have been killed and 30,000 lefthomeless following a wave of fires that struck a number of camps forinternally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda, relief workerssaid on Monday."Three people, two of them children, were killed in the fires," ElianeDuthoit, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (OCHA) in Uganda, told IRIN.The most devastating fire hit Acet IDP camp, 44 km east of the regionalcapital, Gulu. An estimated 4,050 grass-thatched huts were burnt down,destroying all property and food stored in them."Six out of seven zones in the [Acet] camp were completely destroyed. Weare asking the people and the government to put in place some fire-breaksbecause we cannot go on like this," Duthoit added.Earlier reports from local leaders suggested that at least nine people,eight of them children, were killed when the fire swept through the campon Saturday, but relief workers could only confirm three deaths.Another fire destroyed 1,548 huts in Lira on Friday. According to reliefworkers, other fires were reported in Keyo and Cope camps in Gulu, where200 and 50 huts were destroyed respectively. Gulu is 380 km north of theUgandan capital, Kampala.Andrew Timpson, head of OCHA in Gulu, told IRIN: "The destruction has beenextensive. The people have lost everything including food and non-fooditems. Children in Acet are sleeping in the school."Timpson, however, said several agencies had arrived in the region toprovide relief to the IDPs.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Uganda RedCross had by Monday started distributing relief supplies to 1,548families. "We are distributing tarpaulin, utensils and jerrycans in Agwengin Lira, and we hope to start doing the same in other affected camps," theICRC spokesman in Kampala, Juan Carlos Carrera, told IRIN.The Ugandan Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Aporu Amongin,told IRIN that a government team had gone to the region to assess thesituation. She added that there were plans to prevent fires from recurringin the camps."The camps mushroomed haphazardly and they were not planned," the ministersaid. "We want, during reconstruction of the huts, to provide forfire-breaks so that the problem is not recurring. We will make sure thatthe fireplaces are not so close to the huts."Describing the origins of the fire in Ngai in neighbouring Apac District,where 283 huts were burnt, the minister said a child who was preparing tocook a meal had started the fire that eventually destroyed the camp."Because it is dry and windy, the wind blew the fire from her hands and anearby hut went into flames along with others," Amongin said.The camps are home to thousands of people displaced by the 18-year old warbetween the Ugandan government and the rebels of the Lord's ResistanceArmy (LRA). More than 1.6 million people have been forced out of theirhomes by the protracted war.The LRA has been at war with the government since 1988. Notorious fortheir brutality, LRA rebels have often raided villages and IDP camps tokidnap children living there, either to force them to fight in its ranks,or into sexual slavery.Efforts to end the rebellion through peaceful means have thus far met withlittle success.On Monday the Uganda army claimed to have captured a senior rebelcommander, Brigadier Michael Acellam-Odong. Odong was captured along withtwo wives and children of LRA leader Joseph Kony. "They were in a hide out; we surprised them, killed one rebel, recoveredguns and a VHF radio," Uganda People’s Defence Force spokesman, Maj ShabanBantariza, told IRIN.