One of my objectives this month is to map out differences between sub-counties in the northern region in terms of how heavily they were affected by LRA atrocities. This turns out to be quite a challenge! I carry around maps of the area. The leader of a national NGO in Kampala is one of the many people I ask to mark LRA presence and hot-spots on the map: I watch his face while he is drawing circles. He frowns, then slowly starts to speak. ‘This where they started, the LRA,’ pointing at Gulu, ‘Then they also launched attacks in districts Kitgum and Pader... This is Acholi subregion. Then, when the Ugandan military forces started fighting them, they dispersed. They wanted to stretch and have many fronts. They splintered as guerrillas do. Some went to South Sudan, others to Lango sub-region, to Lira.’ Many more circles appear on the map, for attacks, for camps, for movements of people. ‘Gulu, Kitgum and Pader suffered most attacks, but they had more impact in Pader where nearly the ent...

From 2001 to 2002, over 90% of the population of the Acholi sub-region became internally displaced as the result of a government order. It led to a humanitarian crisis that remained hardly unnoticed for some time and from 2003 onwards the region saw an influx of international humanitarian actors. Since 2 years ago, the region is again stable and people are leaving the camps. These so called ‘returnees’ face real challenges going home. They have to settle, rebuild houses, start farming their land. Most infrastructure was destroyed. Also, a change to self-sufficiency is also psychologically a challenge after living in camps for so many years. The changing situation in Northern Uganda is also reflected in the type of organisations operating here, as well as their programming. Humanitarian organisations have started to pull out. Bilateral donors shift their funding from the LRA affected areas to Karamoja, a region facing instability due to cattle rustling. However, many development...

The political divide between Southern and Northern Uganda is often cited. The North has not only felt politically marginalised, but also in socio-economic terms. Norbert Mao, chairman of Gulu district, explained in an interview with The Observer (18 July 2009) how the North was structurally neglected in the allocation of resources. The Northern region has always supported the opposition against President Museveni. Indeed, many people wonder why it took the government 20 years to address the conflict in a meaningful way. With the now wide attention for the recovery of the Acholi sub-region and other conflict-affected areas, debates about the north-south divide are the talk of the day. Now what do we see when we study the ‘Peace and Recovery Development Plan for Northern Uganda’ (PRDP)? The PRDP consists of 4 ‘pillars’ or strategic objectives: 1) Consolidation of State Authority, 2) Rebuilding and Empowering Communities, 3) Revitalisation of the Economy, and 4) The central gover...

What does a transition from emergency to recovery look like for Acholi people? Of course, to leave the camps and returning to villages is a major change for most of the people. Also a change in government structures is taking place. And I am extremely interested to follow that process in the next one and half years, hoping that the transition will be a smooth! When the population was displaced in often large camps, the United Nations agencies and the district governments put the camp management structures in place. Officially, the local government system remained in existence, but they could barely function in the camps as they were just as displaced as their people. In each camp one IDP was selected as ‘camp commandant’, who was the focal point for all humanitarian actors and responsible for a range of camp operational tasks such as food distribution, giving him substantial authority in the eyes of the camp population. Camps were divided in blocks and each had a block leader,...