The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) this week gave over 600,000 people in Pader, Gulu and Kitgum districts 48 hours to assemble in "protected camps". This act, according to Brigadier Aronda Nyakairima, is to pave the way for a major and final military offensive against the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda.

The L.R.A., which has been in conflict with the UPDF since 1988, was born from remnants of previous rebel movements in the region after their political and military leaders made peace with the government. It has been described as a mysterious, terrorist religious sect seeking to rule Uganda according to the ten commandments. It is led by Joseph Kony, 37, a former church catechist, who hardly appears in public and does not speak to the press.

The conflict between the LRA and UPDF has left around 560,000 people displaced and traumatised. The L.R.A. have been brutal to the very people it claims to want to rule, abducting youth and conscripting fighters. Young girls are made into "wives", women are raped and people are murdered. In one instance, several people attending a funeral were ordered to cook and eat the corpse and were then chopped to death, children were smashed against trees and ordered to cut their parents with axes and vice versa. Shops are regularly looted and vehicles are ambushed and burned. In the past few months alone, four buses and 12 trucks have been burnt, including ACORD and World Food Programme vehicles. The ACORD vehicle, transporting plates, cups, basins and sauce pans worth USD7,000 was burnt while travelling to Kitgum.

Now, with the launch of  "Operation Iron Fist", a UPDF military operation within Southern Sudan aimed at routing L.R.A. rebels, there is a lull in the conflict. The L.R.A had operated for many years from rear bases inside Sudan, backed by the Sudan government, but since September 11th, when the L.R.A. was listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, the Islamic government in Khartoum made peace with Uganda. Sudan had also accused Uganda of backing the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army. After being dislodging from their rear bases in Southern Sudan, the L.R.A, poured into Uganda and started to wreak havoc on civilians on a scale never seen before. The government responded by assembling people in 21 congested grass thatched camps, but sixteen of these were burnt down by the L.R.A, forcing people to escape into the wilderness, into towns and hospitals and others to flee to neighbouring districts. It was even extremely difficult to trace people to provide them with relief services. The camps are a contested area and create a huge dilemma for the people concerned.