UN Relief Coordinator Arrives in Uganda on First Stop of East Africia Mission

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland arrived in Uganda today on the first stop of a nine-day mission to East Africa, which will take him to four countries that are suffering humanitarian crises due to conflict or natural causes.

Mr. Egeland, who is also the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, is expected to meet with Government, donor and other officials during his stay in Uganda while examining the situation of internally displaced people (IDPs) uprooted in the 20-year rebellion by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

A statement from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that after Uganda, he will then travel to Juba in southern Sudan for more consultations with officials and another visit to an IDP way station before heading to the conflict-ridden Darfur region of that country.

Mr. Egeland will travel to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and to a field location in Darfur where thousands of newly displaced people have fled, and then meet with the African Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations (NGO) working there, OCHA said.

Conflict between Government forces, pro-government militias and rebels has led to the deaths of at least 180,000 people and uprooted more than 2 million others in Darfur over the past three years, and from here Mr. Egeland will visit a Sudanese refugee camp in eastern Chad that houses some of those who have fled.

He will then return to Sudan for meetings in the capital, Khartoum, with Government and UN officials, including those from the UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS).
On the final day of the mission on 7 April, Mr. Egeland will travel to Nairobi, Kenya, where severe drought has affected 3.5 million people.

Source: United Nations News Centre

judythpiazza@gmail.com