Outside auditor to manage Uganda HIV/AIDS funds

Posted by Reuters
August 31, 2005

By Frank Nyakairu

KAMPALA (Reuters) - An international firm of auditors will temporarily take over management of AIDS funding in Uganda from a local firm accused of mismanaging aid money, a senior Ugandan official said on Tuesday.

The decision was reached after a two-hour meeting between Health Minister Jim Muhwezi and three officials from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which halted millions of dollars in funding last week.

The Geneva-based fund said its auditors had serious concerns about the operations of the now-disbanded Project Management Unit (PMU), a special agency set up by the Ugandan government to handle cash disbursed by the fund.

"We have agreed that (auditing firm) Ernst & Young acts as the PMU to be able to go through the transition period," State Minister for Health Mike Mukula told reporters.

"The officials (from Global Fund) said they still have a lot of confidence and expect to lift the suspension very soon."

Although there was no clear indication of corruption or fraud, the fund said there was evidence of "inappropriate expenditure and improper accounting".

It asked the Ugandan finance ministry to set up a new organisation to ensure the effective management of the grants.

Uganda's health minister Muhwezi has said the problem lay with a small amount of missing paperwork from local charities running operations in remote parts of the country.

President Yoweri Museveni vowed last week to personally investigate why the aid was being suspended.

He assured Ugandans the cuts would not end the fight against HIV/AIDS in the east African country, often praised for leading the continent's most effective campaign against the pandemic.

The fund said the suspension would not affect the supply of drugs and other vital assistance to AIDS patients.

Ernst & Young will mainly monitor the procurement of drugs and condoms, Mukula said.

Uganda has succeeded in slashing HIV infection rates to about 6 percent today, from 30 percent in the early 1990s. But its emphasis on abstinence-only programmes -- favoured by U.S. President George W. Bush's administration -- has caused concern among health officials and AIDS activists.

Stephen Lewis, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said on Monday that U.S.-promoted abstinence-only programmes had created a "condom crisis" -- a charge dismissed by the Ugandan government.

New resources to promote peace in Ugandan schools

Posted by Relief Web
Source: World Vision
August 31, 2005

by Margaret Alerotek - Communications Officer

Peace is on the curriculum in schools in Uganda, thanks to a new set of educational resources provided by World Vision in conjunction with the Government of Uganda and the German Embassy.

Inspired by a World Vision report on integrating peace education into school curriculums in Uganda, the new handbooks for primary schools were launched on August 26.

World Vision Uganda Peace-building Coordinator James Odong said the book is a rich resource for teachers for integrating peace education into their day-to-day teaching.

Addressing those present at the launch, World Vision Uganda Interim-National Director Luther Boris Anukur said the country should encourage and develop a culture of peace, focusing on long-term commitment with grassroots partners to address the causes of conflict.

"Peace building is about addressing the root causes of conflict and past grievances, facilitating the non violent transformation of conflicts towards just systems and peace communities. It should aim at the promotion of social justice, changing attitudes and behaviour by building cultures of peace," said Anukur.

Anukur said World Vision Uganda engages in advocacy programmes that help to reform and build institutional structures that promote peace, adding that the main reason why World Vision got involved in this program was because it wanted to promote non-violent ways of resolving disputes among teachers and students.

"This idea of promoting peace education in schools was borne out of the realisation that children spend longer hours with teachers than with their parents. And teachers have a leading role in moulding the future generation for peace. That is why our first intervention was to come up with a teacher's aid for Peace Education for Primary Schools and it is our hope that this will help contribute to peace in this nation," he said.

German Ambassador Dr. Alexander Muehlen commended World Vision for its commitment and dedication in trying to transform lives and societies. He said that peace is a very important aspect of life that cannot be overlooked and urged the teachers who will use the books to do their best to instill it in the children.

"We all need peace and should encourage it to be one's part of life. Peace should be something we acquire each time we wake up, and confirm it as we retire to bed. However, it is sad that some children, especially those from the northern part of Uganda grow up not knowing the meaning and benefits of peace. It is our responsibility to change that, and it is my prayer that the Government of Uganda continues to support this initiative," said Muehlen.

The Minister of State for Primary Education in Uganda Nyombi Thembo, in a speech that was read a representative, said the Government of Uganda is very happy with what World Vision is doing for the Ugandan community especially those in war ravaged areas of northern Uganda.

"Peace is a very vital ingredient for any meaningful development. I am glad World Vision came up with such a brilliant idea of integrating peace in primary schools, which is very important for a child's early stages of growth. And I can assure you that the government of Uganda will support it all the way."

The German Foreign Office funded the peace project, which cost US$82,000.

US 'harming' Uganda's Aids battle

Posted by BBC World
Tuesday, August 30,2005

The UN's special envoy on fighting Aids in Africa has accused the United States of endangering the gains Uganda has made in containing the disease.
Stephen Lewis told the BBC that Uganda - under pressure from Washington - was putting greater emphasis on abstinence to tackle the disease than condoms.

His remarks follow a report by US health campaigners saying the country was facing a condom shortage.

Ugandan denies any change in policy and the US has rejected the UN accusation.

Religious right

Mr Lewis said: "Over the last eight to 10 months, there's been a very significant decline in the use of condoms, significantly orchestrated by the policies of government."

"At the moment, the government of Uganda appears to be under the influence of the American policy through the presidential initiative of emphasising abstinence far and away over condoms," he said.

He suggested US President George Bush, who launched his multi-billion dollar campaign to tackle Aids in Africa two years ago, was acting under the influence of the religious right in US.

A senior US official rejected Mr Lewis's criticism, saying the current administration supported condom use as part of a balanced programme that included prevention.

"The statements that I have heard are completely untrue and completely mischaracterise effective prevention programmes," Mark Dybul, deputy US global Aids co-ordinator told Reuters news agency.

'Short supply'

The UN envoy said condoms were now in short supply in Uganda and had tripled in price.

He said political leaders in Uganda were demeaning the value of condoms in favour of abstinence.

US-based Center for Health and Gender Equity reported that Uganda has been facing a condom shortage for 10 months.

But Ugandan Health Minister Mike Mikula rubbished the report, saying condoms remained a vital part of the country's Abstinence, Be faithful and Condoms (ABC) strategy.

"The weight of the ABC is all equal in that abstinence has been one of the critical strengths of Uganda's ability to reduce the prevalence in the country.

"And obviously, being faithful, which is the B has equally done very well. But condoms and the distribution of condoms continues unabated."

He said 65 million condoms had been procured about two months ago and another 80 million were on the way.

Uganda is often held up as a model of how to fight HIV/Aids, with infection rates falling from 15 to 5%.

Garang's ghost and press freedom

Posted by the Globe and Mail
August, 24, 2005

KAMPALA -- When jailed by the government, Andrew Mwenda, probably Uganda's best-known journalist, told his family and friends not to despair. The meals provided by the state weren't bad, he said, better than his high school, and besides, the journalist had finally gained access to men claiming torture by a notorious branch of the Ugandan police. If his hero Nelson Mandela could spend 27 years in prison, said Mr. Mwenda, then no one should worry about him until after at least a year.

By Blake Lambert

Donors reluctant to fund Uganda polls

Posted by Relief Web
August 23, 2005

With the Uganda general election set for next March, the electoral commission has not yet managed to secure any funds to get the electoral process going. A.MUTUMBA LULE and JULIUS BARIGABA report

After spending Ush22 billion ($12.5 million) on a referendum, dismissed by critics as unnecessary, the Uganda Electoral Commission is seeking another Ush74 billion ($42.3 million) for the general election slated for March 2006.

However, donors – who finance more than half of Uganda's budget – have not committed themselves to funding the election.

EC secretary Sam Rwakoojo told The EastAfrican last week, said $42.3 million was required to carry out the presidential, parliamentary and local council elections, which for the first time will be held on the same day.

He said although the EC had met with several donors, no financial commitment had been made.

"We have been talking to them but, so far, there has been no response. I don't know whether they will respond, because they have not shown any signs of doing so," said Mr Rwakoojo.

Donors turned down an EC request to fund the referendum on the return to multiparty politics, which President Yoweri Museveni banned when he took power in 1986.

He blamed political parties for the economic decline in the country between 1966 and 1985.

However, the EC expects to get funds from the Treasury to start working on the election plans after parliament passes the vote next month. The funds will then be released in September or October.

An official at the Netherlands embassy in Kampala, who declined to be named, said that several missions were in talks to consider funding the elections and a decision could be reached within six months.

Inadequate funding and the late release of the money has been the commission's undoing over the years.

Local and foreign observers at the July 28 referendum said the EC had not done enough voter education and sensitisation because government had released funds only weeks into the poll and it came in instalments.

The Uganda Human Rights Comimission last week released its report on the referendum, which condemned the government for the late release of funds. It said that this may have contributed to the poor organisation of the referendum, leading to a turnout of only 47 per cent of the 8.5 million registered voters.

Nominations for parliamentary and presidential candidates will be done in December, EC officials said. The last elections held under multipartyism were in 1980, in which the Democratic Party fielded Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere while the Conservative Party was represented by Mayanja Nkangi.

Museveni stood on a Uganda Patriotic Movement ticket, as the Uganda People's Congress fielded Dr Milton Obote.

Dr Obote won the elections, but DP and UPM protested over the outcome, accusing Dr Obote of rigging.

This was one of the factors that led Museveni to found the rebel National Resistant Movement in 1981, which fought a five-year war with the government of Dr Obote.

After winning the war, Museveni was sworn in as president on January 29, 1986, and immediately banned party activities, limiting their operations to their headquarters.

He ruled unelected for 10 years, only holding elections in 1996, but under the Movement's single party system.

He won a five-year term in a landslide. In 2001, another election was organised also under the Movement system, which he also won in a landslide.

However, his main challenger, Dr Kiiza Besigye, protested over the outcome of the elections and went to court, which found out that indeed there were irregularities in the elections, but not to a level to influence the final outcome.

Analysts point out that the first multiparty elections could suffer the same fate as the referendum because of funding problems.

EC officials told The EastAfrican that besides the government, they had talked to foreign missions over funding the elections.

The only important activity the EC is engaged in at present is updating the voters' register, which will go on until the end of September.

The tallying of votes is also expected to take longer than the mandated 48 hours, but the EC is working with parliament to have the voting hours extended.

Currently, voting starts at 7 am and ends at 5 pm to allow the counting of votes to be done while it is still daylight. An extension here will mean going on to 7 pm.

The process of tendering for voters civic education is yet to start because the EC does not have the funds to advertise for tenders.

Already, pressure groups and opposition parties are expressing fears that this delay is another deliberate effort to manipulate the electoral process.

New Video, Photo Essay Tell Story of Uganda's Child "Night Commuters"

Posted by HRW
New York, August 22, 2005

Human Rights Watch has documented the plight of Uganda’s lost generation of children in a new video, “Night Commuters: Uganda’s Forgotten Children of War.” A powerful photo essay by Bruno Stevens accompanies the video.

The video, narrated by Dennis Haysbert, spotlights the phenomenon of tens of thousands of children in northern Uganda who walk miles every day to avoid abduction by rebel troops. The video shows the children embarking from their villages on long journeys in search of a safe place to sleep in urban areas.

Human Rights Watch takes an unflinching look at the harrowing conditions of the children’s lives through original footage and interviews. The situation in northern Uganda has resulted in a pervasive climate of fear. Since 1986, 30,000 boys and girls have been abducted in northern Uganda and forced to become child soldiers and sex slaves. The group that is responsible for these atrocities, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), has waged war against the Ugandan government for nearly two decades.

Once abducted by the LRA, children are forced to carry out raids, beat and kill civilians and kidnap other children if they want to stay alive. The girls end up sexually violated and physically abused. They are forced to beat or trample to death other children who attempt to escape, and are repeatedly told that they will be killed if they try to run away.

To avoid LRA abduction, every night as many as 40,000 children flee their homes in the countryside to sleep in the relative safety of towns. They seek refuge overnight at churches, hospitals, bus stations and temporary shelters before returning home again each morning.

This video spotlights a society living under the constant threat of having its children abducted and shows the world that a crisis that the United Nations has called a “crime against humanity” can no longer be ignored.

Ugandan army kills over 40 rebels in 3 days

Posted by Xinhua News Agency
August 19, 2005

KAMPALA, Aug 19, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) has killed over 40 rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army ( LRA) in separate operations in northern Uganda and southern Sudan in three days of air raids, a senior army officer said on Friday.

Charles Otema Awany, the UPDF intelligence coordinator in northern Uganda, was quote by the state-owned newspaper the New Vision as saying some 20 LRA rebels were killed in southern Sudan on Wednesday just after they had crossed from northern Uganda.

Otema said that during this helicopter raid, the LRA second-in- command, Vincent Otti narrowly survived the attack.

On Tuesday, 13 rebels were killed in two separate helicopter raids in Atiki, southern Sudan while on Monday, the UPDF helicopter gunship attacked a rebel hideout at Kadomera in the northern Ugandan district of Kitgum killing at least 10 rebels.

During these operations several military equipment and looted items were seized from the rebels.

The LRA rebels have been fighting the government for 19 years, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing over 1.4 million others.

Ugandan journalist charged with sedition

Posted by the Globe and Mail
August 13, 2005

Kampala -- Ugandan police charged KFM radio journalist Andrew Mwenda with sedition yesterday over remarks he made about the death of Sudan's Vice-President, John Garang.

President Yoweri Museveni vowed this week to shut down newspapers he said were "vultures" meddling in security issues with speculation about the July 30 crash of his presidential helicopter that killed the former rebel chief.

Uganda: Profile of internal displacement

Posted by the Global IDP Project
August 10, 2005

Summary

Uganda: collapse of peace talks dims hopes for two million IDPs

Prospects for an end to the massive displacement crisis and two decades of armed conflict between the government and rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda look dim after the breakdown of peace talks in February 2005. The collapse of the talks brought an end to a ceasefire and a resumption of rebel attacks on internally displaced people (IDPs), involving killings, maiming, rapes and looting. Peace efforts may be further complicated by the intervention of the International Criminal Court which is in the process of issuing international arrest warrants for the rebel leaders.

The number of IDPs rose dramatically from around 400,000 in March 2002 to the current total of nearly two million, after the government launched a military operation, code-named "Operation Iron Fist". The Ugandan army (UPDF) was allowed to attack the LRA rebels’ rear bases in southern Sudan under an agreement with the Sudanese government. In response to the increased military pressure, LRA forces returned to Uganda and initiated a spate of attacks and massacres, causing massive displacement to largely unprotected IDP camps. The Sudan-Uganda agreement was renewed in May 2005 and the military operations have contributed significantly to the weakening of the LRA, reportedly numbering no more than around 500 fighters as of August 2005.

Living conditions in the camps are appalling, with a widespread lack of infrastructure and basic services, including schools, health care, and water and sanitation facilities. Some 30,000-40,000 children, so-called night commuters, come into urban areas every night to sleep on the streets or in public buildings and shelters, largely due to fears of being abducted by the LRA.

The LRA rebels, whose activities were initially limited to Acholiland, comprising Gulu, Kitgum and Pader Districts, spread further south and east in 2003 causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the Lango and Teso regions, the latter having also been affected by large scale internal displacement caused by raids by Karamojong warriors. A relative calm in these districts in the second half of 2004 encouraged up to 350,000 IDPs to move progressively closer to their homes.

The UN took a number of steps to increase international focus on the critical humanitarian situation in northern Uganda. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland visited Uganda at the end of 2003 and the strengthened UN Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division, which made Uganda one of its priority countries in 2004, conducted a number of follow-up visits. Although this has led to an enhanced UN presence, strengthened coordination mechanisms and improved conditions for some IDPs, the international presence in northern Uganda continues to be far from adequate considering the scale of the crisis.

Over 5,000 former rebels to join Ugandan army: report

Posted by Xinhua News Agency
August 8, 2005

KAMPALA, Aug 8, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Over 5,000 West Nile Bank Front ( WNBF) ex-rebels are to be integrated into the Ugandan army, local newspaper The New Vision reported on Monday.

The former commander in chief of the now defunct WNBF, Taban Amin, was quoted as saying that among the ex-combatants who will join the army included tank instructors, artillery and anti- aircraft crew with military and guerrilla experience of over 20 years.

Many of the ex-combatants had shown interest in joining the army, he said, adding that he was in contact with his 14,300 former troops, most of them are settled in the northwestern part of the country.

He said that some of them would be shaped into a reserve force and the rest would form a task force for the ruling National Resistance Movement headed by President Yoweri Museveni.

Taban Amin had established bases in the areas neighboring the Democratic Republic of the Congo to topple President Museveni's government before signing a peace agreement with the government in later 2003.

Following the peace deal, Amin disbanded the group and agreed to work with the government.

Taban Amin is the son to Uganda's former military dictator Idi Amin who was accused of responsibility for the death of over 400, 000 people during his rule in the 1970s.

Uganda: Referendum ends 20-year ban on political parties

Posted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
August 1, 2005

KAMPALA, 1 August (IRIN) - Ugandans on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to repeal a two-decade ban on political parties in a national referendum that was, however, boycotted by the opposition, the electoral commission announced on Saturday.

A total of 92.5 percent of voters who participated in the plebiscite backed the reforms, based on returns from 99.6 percent of the polling stations.

"The commission hereby declares that the people of Uganda have adopted a multi-party political system henceforth," Badru Kiggundu, the head of the election commission, said.

The "no" vote accounted for only 7.5 percent of the ballots cast, with the overall turnout hovering at 47 percent, Kiggundu told reporters.

Although the strong "yes" vote was claimed as a victory for President Yoweri Museveni - who had campaigned to repeal the ban on parties - there were fears that the low turnout had dashed his hopes for a nationwide consensus.

His opponents, who have long called for the re-introduction of parties, but who called a boycott of the referendum, also claimed victory due to the low voter numbers. They said there could never be any justification for putting to a vote the fundamental right of association and assembly.

"The low turnout is a reflection of the decreasing support on the side of the president. We have reports of very low turnout from many places in the country despite vigorous campaigning by the president," Paul Ssemogerere, Democratic Party president, told IRIN.

Local and international observers cited poor civic education, general apathy and heavy rains that on Thursday in much of Uganda as other possible reasons for the poor turnout.

A spokesman for the president's "Movement" organisation, the only fully functional political entity in Uganda since Museveni came to power in 1986, said the results indicated the commitment of the government to democratic reform.

"We wanted the matter of opening up decided by the population and we know we have scored this, though the opposition tried so much to block it," Ofwono Opondo said.

"We also wanted to prove to the world that we wanted to open up. People were sceptical that after 19 years we would not open up. We have done it and we have found out that the people still believe in the Movement," the spokesman added.

Opposition legislator Omara Atubo told IRIN Museveni's desire for change was merely "a facade behind which he is trying to hide ambitions to rule for life".

Atubo cited last month's parliamentary decision to lift presidential term limits, effectively allowing Museveni to seek re-election during elections in 2006.

International observers gave the exercise a clean bill of health, and said it was handled in a transparent manner, although they noted that few people had actually cast ballots.

"It was free and fair, without any intimidation or people being forced to vote one way or the other, but there was a lower turnout than we expected," Peter Carr-Locke, a Canadian observer who monitored the polls in eastern Uganda, told IRIN by phone.

Museveni, who for two decades fought to retain his "no-party democracy" system, had vigorously campaigned for a "yes" vote, a u-turn that critics say was driven by his desire to appease the international community, which has grown weary of the slow pace of political transition.

The president on Saturday told diplomats that the victory of the "yes" side represented a decision by the people of Uganda.

"The option of using parliament to change the political system would have greatly offended the majority of the people of Uganda," he said.

He played down the low turnout or suggestions that the population boycotted the referendum.

"The most important thing is that the people were given an opportunity and those who took it up decided to open up political space by voting Yes. As far as the outcome is concerned, I am home and dry," the president said.

[ENDS]

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005