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Military won't help aid workers
13/04/2006 19:33 - (SA)
Kampala - Uganda has stopped providing military escorts for relief workers delivering non-food assistance to millions in the war-ravaged north of the country.
On Thursday, the Ugandan military said the escorts were no longer necessary as security in the north, where the army has been battling Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels for nearly 20 years, had improved.
Ugandan army lieutenant Chris Magezi said: "There is no longer a need to give escorts to whoever travels on the roads.
"The situation is much better as most major roads are now motorable without any threat of ambush."
Magezi said the decision to end military escorts had been made to free up troops to assist in the relocation of two million displaced northern Ugandans.
The withdrawal of the escorts does not affect United Nations world food programme (WFP) convoys.
Aid workers in the country said they were seeking a reversal of the decision.
They said the security situation had not improved.
In October, many aid agencies suspended or curtailed their activities after two relief workers were killed in LRA ambushes.
Two aid workers were killed by the LRA in neighbouring southern Sudan, in attacks that appeared to target them.
Aid workers said similar, if less deadly, incidents have continued.
Of the two million displaced in the 20 year war, 1.7m live in refugee camps where they depend on humanitarian aid for survival.
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