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Lord Freeman: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, not only on winning the debate but also on her excellent speech. I find myself in complete agreement with her and I shall not repeat her arguments in any way. Instead I want to make a practical suggestion to help the hard-pressed communities in the north of Uganda that are caught up in the conflict zone. I would be grateful if the Minister would simply draw my remarks to the attention of the Secretary of State for International Development. I do not expect a response tonight.

About half a dozen international non-governmental organisations provide water sources in rural Uganda. I declare an interest as chairman of one of them, the Busoga Trust, which has been active for 25 years and has built well over 1,000 water sources. I shall speak briefly on behalf of all the NGOs involved in this important activity. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the NGOs to work in northern Uganda, particularly in the triangle of Gulu, Kitgum and Lira. That is simply because in the past it has been unsafe, although work is continuing in the north-east of Uganda on the Kenyan and Sudanese borders, but not in the conflict zone itself. If those organisations were able, with the help of the security forces, to move north, they could rapidly supply clean water to the villages. I appreciate that bore holes already exist in the campsites where the women, children and the population in general spend the evenings for security reasons. However, I believe work needs to be done in the villages. Clean water transforms village life. It provides health, vitality, and self-confidence. The noble Baroness referred in particular to the plight of the children. The lives of many children are cut short through disease, from drinking foul water.
 
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Her Majesty's Government have diverted some aid directly from the Ugandan central government to help orphans in the north of Uganda. I suggest that Her Majesty's Government should consider diverting or using some of that money devoted to northern Uganda to engage the NGOs which, I believe, could build well over 100 water sources over the next six months. That may seem a modest programme, but although it may not solve the conflict, it will encourage the population to resettle in the rural villages and, I hope, help to bring peace and tranquility to a troubled region.

7.43 pm

Baroness D'Souza: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for initiating this debate. I too endorse what she has said, perhaps with one exception. From answers given by the Minister in previous debates and to Questions, I would like to acknowledge that the UK is clearly to the fore in negotiating UN Resolution 1653 and in providing support to the NGOs in the area, among other actions. I want to say a little about the important development which is the International Criminal Court mission to investigate the current conflict and to make arrests. I am indebted to Lorna McGregor who initiated a two-day workshop for the International Bar Association with 100 members of civil society organisations, the legal community from the north and from Kampala to discuss the work of the ICC within the national justice system. The preliminary conclusions from the workshop are quite interesting, certainly for conflict resolution work in the north of Uganda.

There is a feeling that the ICC intervention from the outside may mask the lack of political will on the part of the Government to take decisive action to stop the war. Having failed in this mission, the decision to allow in the ICC was clearly politically motivated. That reflects a wider perception—widespread in Africa—that while the international community is desperately needed, the solutions must heed sovereignty and must come from within.

The workshop also highlighted the failure of the ICC to make equal comment about the abuses, of which there are many, by the armed forces. The displaced people's camps are a terrifying experience, especially for women. I am currently taken up with concerns about a young university student, who was rescued from the LRA by army troops only to be raped and abused by government troops during three months in the camp prior to her escape. She is now in the UK with a baby daughter, not knowing whether the baby was fathered by the LRA or the army and is facing possible deportation.

As ever, the resolutions, the statements, the promises and the human rights reports are all necessary. What is even more vital is that the recommendations be implemented. For example, it is crucial that pressure is maintained within and outwith Uganda if the UN resolution is to have an impact on the ground. The UN Secretary-General's report must be submitted and discussed before the Chinese assume
 
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the presidency at the end of this month, so that the Security Council is in no doubt what its action should be. As has already been suggested and pointed out by the noble Baroness, it is strongly suggested that there be a special high-level envoy appointed. That could happen immediately without any further resolution. It is a matter of a decision being taken and implemented.

There should also be an investigation into LRA actions, which might be helpful in clarifying how to reduce the violence, and there should be widespread understanding by the international community that military action has not yet proved to be the answer, and, therefore, there has to be explicit ongoing support for political mediation and peace-building initiatives.

7.46 pm

Lord Anderson of Swansea: My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Baroness on her initiative, I endorse what she has said about the LRA and its victims and can see no case for negotiating with Kony and the indictees, for example. I shall make two points. First, with the current focus on the flawed election in Uganda as a whole, we should put that in the context of a president who, overall, has done fairly well. In the mid-1980s, I spoke for the opposition on Africa, when President Museveni came to power. Who can forget the atrocities, the insecurity, particularly in the Luwero triangle, the fact that since then there has been successful economic developments, and one of the more enlightened policies on AIDS in Africa as a whole with modernisation and stability? Of course, the president has never won over the north, which, in any event, is Obote territory. The electoral geography of the last presidential election showed that the north central area and the north-west were heavily against the president, but he won in the north-east. At the time of the election, he said that the war was largely over. Therefore, it is perhaps right to consider not just the Acholi territory in the north-west, but also other areas such as the west Nile and Karamoja in the north-east.

Here I declare an interest as an adviser to a small British charity which includes Viscount Ingleby and the noble Lord, Lord Hylton. The charity is the Christian International Peace Service (CHIPS) which has been in north-east Uganda for 15 years, working for reconciliation between the Karamojong and the Teso tribes. The work is concentrated, therefore, on the border area between the tribes, where there was a massacre during the drought period of 2000. The charity works in agriculture, community and water development and veterinary services with para-vets moving with the cattle—a team composed wholly of Ugandans. CHIPS has identified a number of problems. One is the problem of the definition of internally displaced persons. No one is quite sure how many camps there are. There was a particular criticism of the quality of food provided by the World Food Programme, which is often said to be "bitter". There were allegations of delays and corruption. By contrast, a notable success has been the work of a small
 
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UK charity, the Teso Development Trust, which distributes food through the Church of Uganda and the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church.

Finally, it is clearly highly administratively convenient for the Government to use the WFP, which reduces costs, but there is a strong body of local opinion that the WFP and, indeed, the national government, should in part be bypassed because of corruption, and that aid should increasingly be directed to small and highly motivated non-governmental organisations.

7.50 pm

Baroness Cox: My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for this opportunity to record my concerns about my visit three weeks ago to northern Uganda, where 95 per cent of the population has been herded into overcrowded camps. We witnessed conditions showing why 1,000 people die every week in those camps. We also met some of the tens of thousands of children who had been abducted by the LRA but who had escaped. Their stories have a chilling consistency, and their voices need to be heard tonight. I give just four examples. Florence, 15, was abducted in 2002 and taken to Sudan, given to an LRA commander as his "wife", and trained to become a soldier. She had to fight and take other children into captivity, treating them as she had been treated. She said, "I became wild, I didn't care about killing and I possibly became worse than them. If I had met my mother and father I would have killed them. I acted like someone who is deranged. I don't know how many people I have killed". She has been told that her parents are dead. Of her seven siblings, four were abducted, and the others were killed in battle.

Richard, 22, was abducted in 1999. When he was with the LRA, he was forced to do three things: to rape a women publicly; to kill another abductee with a hoe; and to throw an abductee down a well. He received injuries from being beaten with a bicycle chain—a punishment for taking too long to push the abductee down the well.

Irene, 15, was abducted in 2001. The LRA made her kill 10 other children. She slashed them open with a panga knife, scooping up the blood and placing it in her mouth. She has repeated nightmares about the first killing which occurred at dawn. It was the first time she had to drink human blood.

Monica, 18, was abducted in 2003, taken to Sudan for military training, and given to a commander. She became pregnant and had to give birth with no help at all. She said, "I was just treated like an animal". She had to go to fight in Uganda, carrying her baby with her. Time and again, she has had to kill. She said, "In a battle, one has to kill". During one battle near her village, she met a woman whom she knew, and she asked her to take her child, then 18 months old, because she said that she could no longer carry her baby and her gun.

I cannot continue with this terrible catalogue, but I must ask the Minister what Her Majesty's Government are doing to urge President Museveni to
 
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declare northern Uganda a disaster area. In addition, what are they doing to support international aid organisations to prevent the escalation of suffering and death in the camps, and to offer help to the Ugandan Government to provide the security to enable the people to return to their villages? Finally, what are they doing to encourage the Ugandan Government and international organisations to provide free education for children and young people who have escaped from the LRA? The most frequent cri de coeur was for education. This is a lost generation; they cannot afford school fees.

I passionately hope that the Minister will promise that efforts will be made by international organisations to provide the education these young people need to find some healing from the indescribable suffering they have endured.

7.53 pm

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