| Irish Times 3rd November 2005
Déaglán de Bréadun, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Humanitarian aid agency Goal is to suspend operations in parts
of northern Uganda after 22 years of work, "due to the rapidly
deteriorating security situation".
A Goal statement said the decision was made "after a week
of vicious attacks on unarmed humanitarian workers". Three
aid vehicles were ambushed - "the highest incidence of attacks
seen in the last five years".
Last Thursday marked the most serious incident when an ambush left
two aid workers dead, and four seriously injured, in an attack seemingly
perpetrated by members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
"This effectively means Goal will no longer be able to support
the 184,000 vulnerable displaced in the six camps in the warravaged
region where Goal operates." Goal chief executive John O'Shea
said the situation was "dire and too precarious" for Goal
workers. "It is clear that the aid community is now being targeted;
these are workers who are desperately trying to get aid to those
that are heavily dependent on humanitarian aid.
"The international community needs to ensure that the aid
channels are kept open and secure as a matter of grave urgency so
that aid can get to the vulnerable. The lives of several thousand
depend on this."
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