While visiting one of the districts in northern Uganda, the
United Nations' humanitarian affairs chief,
Jan Egeland said, among other things, that it was "
terrorism of the worst kind anywhere in the world".
The UN, it is understood, is appalled - which might mean that the UN is shocked, or disgusted, or dismayed, or alarmed, or struck with revulsion, or maybe, all the above.
The region is so insecure. It has been like that for so many years. People cannot stay in their villages. They are, as Mr Egeland puts it, "
terrorised into crammed camp conditions".
And how does Mr Egeland react to that? Quote him: "
We as aid organisations have to also improve conditions. Still too many are dying..."
Improve conditions in the camps? Huh!
What kind of camps are they? One will rush to call them Internally Displaced People's camps -
IDP camps.
Then i ask again, forgive my being naive if i sound so: are they IDP concentration camps, IDP boot camps, IDP summer camps, IDP death camps, or IDP base camps?
The gentleman is wrong to talk about improving conditions in the camps. He should have said that taking the people out of the camps is one of the first steps to a viable solution.
But again, the gentleman is only trying to help where Ugandans themselves have apparently deliberately failed to deliver.
These suffering people are Ugandans on Ugandan territory. In my humble opinion, they should be re-settled somewhere else in the country where there is relative peace and security. It is important to note that most of them practice mixed farming, which can be done in other places in Uganda - so nothing really ties them where they are now. When the problem is resolved, they can always go back to their tribal lands.
In 2005, when disaster struck
New Orleans and other states in the USA, American citizens and government alike started moving affected people away as soon as they realised the enormity of the situation.
Why can't we, Ugandans, move our fellow citizens away from disaster?
If we moved them to safer and spacious places, Mr Egeland and other kind people would most likely find it easier to assist them with adequate healthcare, sanitation, and access to education.
The American example noted above suggests that we, Ugandans - like most other African countries - have no sense of "
national community". We still see "other" tribes, "other" people, "other" regions. (Do you want to attribute that to
internal colonialism?) For that reason, we (private citizens, law-makers, civil servants, cabinet ministers, president, etc ) are not appalled, nor disgusted about the northern tragedy.
As long as Ugandans are not yet "
appalled" at what is happening to fellow Ugandans, whatever is said is just paying homage to the lip-service god.
Reference:
click here to see original BBC story.
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Labels: politics
