About Northern Uganda
Once called "the most forgotten, worst humanitarian crisis in the world" by the UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was fought for over 20 years in the north of the country. The violence displaced nearly 1.9 million people and claimed the lives of about 10,000 others.
At its height, the war forced the majority of the north's population into displacement camps where they faced a chronic daily struggle to meet their basic needs. Deprived of their farmlands, northern Ugandans came to depend on a limited supply of external food aid. Disease and hunger claimed many tens of thousands of lives. Children faced the nightly threat of abduction and sought safety every evening by commuting long distances to town centers.
Since 2006, the north has been more secure. The LRA has fragmented and been pushed over the border where they instead prey on the civilian populations of South Sudan, eastern DRC, and the Central African Republic. Northern Ugandans have returned to their homes. However, the legacy of over two decades of war is tangible. Travel from the south to the north of Uganda is like entering another, poorer country.
The regional disparity is immediately visible in the neglected physical infrastructure - roads, schools, and hospitals - but also in the people themselves. An entire generation of northern Ugandans missed out on the educational opportunities and other developmental advances seen in the rest of Uganda. Given the limited skills and opportunities, the challenge of reconstruction will require committed leadership and continued security in northern Uganda. Neither of these, however, is a given.