6,000 IDPs homeless after fire guts Pabbo camp

At least 6,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were left homeless after a fire gutted parts of the sprawling Pabbo camp in northern Uganda, destroying hundreds of grass-thatched huts where the IDPs had been living, local leaders and the army said. Christopher Ojera, the area chairman, told IRIN that the fire, which started at a corner of the camp, burnt down 547 huts. Another 705 huts, however, had their roofs pulled down in a effort by the IDPs to thwart the spread of the fire. "The fire broke out at around early afternoon. A task force involving the army and some volunteers pulled down roofs of another 705 huts to stop the fire from spreading," Ojera said from Pabbo, 42 km northwest of Gulu town. The Ugandan army spokesman in the region, Lt Paddy Ankunda, told IRIN from Gulu, 360 km north of the capital, Kampala: "A fire broke out at Pabbo, but I have not ascertained the exact figures of huts burnt. Preliminary reports indicated that over 400 huts were burnt." According to Ojera, the fire broke out on Monday afternoon at a time when most of the camp residents had gone to the gardens near the camp, hence the delay in containing it. Pabbo is one of the largest IDP camps in northern Uganda, housing over 60,000 people. Many of the households had just received their monthly food rations three days earlier, and all this was destroyed in the huts, Ojera added. "People are scared but they are more concerned about the foodstuffs that have been destroyed, because this is their survival meal for the month and it is all gone," he said. The Ugandan government has embarked on a programme to decongest the Pabbo camp by moving some IDPs to other smaller sites where more health, water and sanitation facilities can be provided. Ojera said IDPs had started laying bricks at Jengari, one of the new sites. Another fire in Pabbo earlier this year destroyed several thousand huts and highlighted the problem of congestion in the camps. The congestion in the camp has also resulted in a breakdown of social structures, increased crime, and alcohol and drug abuse, according to local authorities.