Media Statement, 22nd February 2006

GOAL’s Emergency Assistance programme for displaced people in war-ravaged northern Uganda received a massive boost today, with the announcement of an additional €1 million cash injection from the European Union.
 
Over 97% of the 320,000 people living in northern Uganda’s Pader District have been displaced by a 20-year brutal insurgency, and now survive in 30 camps, in one of the poorest regions in the world, with some of the worst health and development indicators.
 
The aid agency GOAL estimates that some 78,000 internally displaced people will benefit from the new funding. By increasing access to safe potable water, improving sanitation awareness and hygiene practices, the 12 month programme aims to reduce the number of deaths amongst conflict affected and displaced people in six of the established refugee camps.
 
The programme will also cater for the basic needs of households by increasing their disposable income, as well as improving the general living environment in the camps by training local leaders in the essentials of camp planning and management.
 
An International Rescue Committee report estimates that nearly 26,000 people in  refugee camps in Northern Uganda  have died in the first half of 2005 because of the conflict. Of these, more than 10,000 were children.
 
GOAL has been working in Uganda since 1979, and has been supported by the European Union since 2003.