Hunting for political support in neglected north

On the campaign trail, Uganda's presidential candidates have ventured where they rarely go, deep into war-ravaged northern Uganda, where the votes of hundreds of thousands of displaced people could make or break their bid for the highest office in the land. As many as 10.4 million voters will go to the polls on 23 February to elect a president and legislators in the first multiparty elections in Uganda in 25 years. Footage of presidential candidates stooping to enter the tiny, grass-thatched huts that some 1.7 million people in the north call home have become commonplace on the country's television channels, bringing to light for millions of other Ugandans the dire humanitarian crisis in the north. Each candidate has his or her own wisdom to offer regarding how to better the appalling living conditions of the displaced, who have been forced to live in camps by a conflict between the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, which has lasted almost two decades. Only a week ago, a huge fire engulfed a camp in the northern district of Kitgum ahead of a visit by Museveni. About 3,200 huts were destroyed, leaving more than 10,000 people homeless. Museveni pointed to political sabotage by opposition supporters as the cause of the fire, saying the area was a ruling party stronghold. He directed Moses Ali, the minister in charge of disasters, to handle the emergency and donated 50,000 shillings (US $28) to each family whose hut was burned. The president also used the occasion to express his "indignation" at the continued encampment of the displaced people, who are almost entirely dependent on humanitarian relief for their survival. He announced that the process to resettle the displaced was in the pipeline and that his government would spend some $16.6 million to return the displaced to their homes across the region. The resettlement process would start with northeastern Teso region, the northern Lango sub-regions and later spread to the worst hit Acholi region once the government had "wiped out" the LRA, Museveni said. "I want to get rid of these lum [grass] huts from Acholi. They have been there for long. I want the Acholi people to begin living in decent houses made of mabati [iron sheets] like people in other parts of the country," he said, adding that the money would be used to equip the displaced with at least 30 iron sheets per household. Museveni said that arrangements were underway to compensate families that lost relatives at the hands of the soldiers of the national army, the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). Kizza Besigye, who is leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and widely considered to be Museveni's main challenger, has pledged to quickly end the conflict in northern Uganda and ensure rapid rehabilitation and socioeconomic recovery. "FDC shall establish a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, peace-building and reconciliation programmes ... and comprehensive psychosocial programmes to address the large-scale psychiatric needs of former abductees and the general population affected by conflict," Besigye said on a recent visit to northern Uganda. The FDC said it would implement a resettlement programme based on the special needs arising from the conflicts, over and above planned national programmes, which Besigye said would help bridge the gap between war-affected areas and the rest of the country and make up for the lost development opportunities over the past 18 years. The opposition Democratic Party, for its part, has vowed to disband camps for the displaced within 90 days of taking office. The party also said it would ensure adequate infrastructure in the form of schools and healthcare centres and establish means to handle claims involving compensation for victims of torture, mutilation and loss of life as well. Most effective way to end the conflict The opposition Democratic Party, one of the country's oldest political entities, blames Museveni's insistence on handling the conflict militarily for the continued suffering of the people of northern Uganda. "The continued armed conflict in northern Uganda has undermined development and created a generation that is greatly dehumanised," the Democratic Party's manifesto reads in part. "The conflict has escalated this long because of mistrust among the warring parties, and also because President Yoweri Museveni has a false belief that all problems must be resolved militarily." Museveni maintains that his government's three-pronged approach - peaceful mediation, amnesty for rebels who surrender and military action - is the best way to defeat the LRA. However, Sebaana Kizito, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, has said peace talks are the only way to end the war. He stressed the need to build trust between the government and the LRA rebels. "Genuine peace, and not revenge, is what is required to heal the wounds that have developed over the years. The Democratic Party shall give northern Uganda top priority in order to ensure that the conflict comes to an end," Kizito said. "We shall employ a combination of diplomatic strategy and increase the role of the traditional leaders in conflict resolution." Long-term future of the north

Profile:Yoweri Museveni With general elections scheduled for 23 February, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni faces the toughest challenge of his 20-year presidency. [More...]

Although the war continues in northern Uganda, the LRA is believed to have been greatly weakened. All of the presidential candidates are looking to the post-war recovery of the region, whose economy and infrastructure have been completely decimated by the conflict. The FDC said it would "focus on organised settlement, infrastructure development (water, electricity), improved land use and land titling, and interventions for agricultural production and other economic activities." It further said it would put emphasis on "immediate rehabilitation of all educational institutions, building technical and vocational institutions to impart skills to the large number of school-dropouts and former abductees, and to instituting a special scholarship programme for entry of students from the region into tertiary institutions and universities." The current government has created the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund - a five-year development project funded by the World Bank - in an effort to ensure that communities in the north are able to "catch-up" with the rest of the country in the development processes. "The NRM [National Resistance Movement] government, in conjunction with development partners, is in the process of preparing a Comprehensive Recovery and Development Plan that provides the broad framework for short, medium and long-term actions," the ruling party's manifesto states. Polls unlikely to be fair - rights group

Profile: Kiiza Besigye A former colonel in the Ugandan army, he is the presidential candidate for the country's largest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). [More...]

Barely a week to the polls, a leading human rights group said the elections were unlikely to be free and fair due to state intimidation of the opposition and voters. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a report entitled "In Hope and Fear: Uganda’s Presidential and Parliamentary Polls", said the run-up to the polls had "been marred by intimidation of the opposition, military interference in the courts and bias in campaign funding and media coverage." "The ruling party under President Yoweri Museveni is playing a dirty game of intimidating the electorate and undermining the opposition," said Jemera Rone, HRW's East Africa coordinator on Tuesday. "The illegal involvement of the army in the campaign scares the electorate, while the opposition has its hands tied by politically motivated criminal charges against its leaders." A Ugandan government spokesman dismissed the HRW report as "absolutely biased". Robert Kabushenga, told reporters that HRW instead wanted to influence the outcome of the elections. [UGANDA: Year in Review 2005 - Rebel activity and political upheaval]