Top UN humanitarian official to attend African refugee summit in Uganda

The top United Nations humanitarian official is leaving for Uganda today on a five-day visit during which he will attend an African Union (AU) summit on refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and tour areas of the country where nearly 2 million people have been driven from their homes by decades of fighting with rebels.

One of the top international organization officials participating in the summit, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes is expected to take part in a panel discussion on “Natural Disasters, Climate Change and Food Security,” led by the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

He is scheduled to hold a joint press conference with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and Independent UN Expert on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Walter Kälin.

Mr. Holmes will also visit northern Uganda, where the humanitarian community has been working with the Government to ensure that the nearly 2 million people displaced by more than 20 years of conflict with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) can find a lasting solution, either by returning to their original homes, moving to other parts of the country, or integrating with the local communities where they now live.

In Karamoja, the international community is working to strengthen food and livelihood security in the country’s most under-developed and politically marginalized region, a semi-arid area where the realities of climate change are daily brought home by the increasing frequency of devastating droughts.

Mr. Holmes will visit the Acholi and Karamoja regions to see the situation first-hand. He is expected to meet with local officials, UN and non-governmental organization (NGO) workers and the affected communities themselves.