Photo: Charles Akena/IRIN

An estimated 200,000 guns are illegally held in Uganda

GULU,  - The Ugandan government is making a fresh attempt to rid the northern region of illegally held arms, after an ultimatum to surrender such weapons was widely ignored earlier in 2012.

The army is switching to a “village-friendly” approach in its disarmament efforts: it wants to work with the community, raising awareness of the dangers of firearms and encouraging them to hand over weapons of their own volition.

“Yes the ultimatum didn’t work, we hope the idea of having a committee will work; it will include people we think are resourceful because they know their villages and the people in the area,” said Lt Isaac Oware of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 4th division in Gulu, northern Uganda.

Under the new plan, village committees involving the county security chief, local police officers, local council leaders and a few community members will help raise awareness about the need to hand in weapons.

“We are doing this to help the community,” said Johnson Kilama, the assistant superintendent of police in Gulu.

Local leaders and civilians say they are pleased with the new approach.

“It’s a good gesture if that is going to be done so that our community can live without fear,” William Achuma a parish chief in Koch Goma in Nwoya District, told IRIN.

In northern Uganda’s Lamwo District, Justino Okot, nursing a gunshot wound from an attack on his family in June 2012, is keen to see guns out of the hands of criminals. “It’s a situation that needs to be taken seriously because I know what it means to be a victim,” he said.

The presumed sources of weapons in the region include former members of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army who bypassed disarmament procedures, local militia groups armed by the UPDF, and UPDF deserters.

The LRA conflict also led to thousands of youths dropping out of formal education; analysts fear that the large numbers of young unemployed men, and the stalled reintegration of ex-combatants into their communities due to a lack of funding, could pose a threat to the region’s peace. More than 12,000 former LRA members have been through a formal amnesty process.

Trust

According to the firearm-focused news bulletin, Gun Policy News, an estimated 200,000 guns are illegally held in Uganda.

Analysts are, however, uncertain that the new “friendly” approach will work, especially as it still bears the face of the UPDF, which has a poor human rights record in northern Uganda.

Daniel Komakech of the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies at Gulu University, advised that institutions like the Amnesty Commission, Ker Kwaro Acholi (the Acholi cultural institution) and Acholi religious leaders should be allowed to take the lead while the army receives surrendered arms – to build confidence.

The army will need to work to gain the trust of local communities in northern Uganda; previous disarmament efforts in the northeastern region of Karamoja were met with accusations of brutality levelled against the UPDF, with scores killed during clashes between the army and local communities.

Stephen Oola of the Refugee Law Project’s Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity said there was concern within the community that the state would not be able to provide adequate protection once they handed over their weapons.

“There hasn’t been any attempt by government to undertake risk analysis to ascertain the security needs of the people and the number of guns that could be out in the community,” Oola said.

“Amnesty [for former LRA rebels] might have recovered a few guns but our guesstimate is that up to 70 percent of guns that were held by various conflicting parties in the north remained unaccounted for… We hope the exercise will not escalate into rights’ violations like the Karamoja disarmament programme.”

The situation is more complicated now that the country’s amnesty law has expired and has not been renewed. “Do you think anyone will come out in absence of a law or protective instrument that can guarantee their safety if they come out openly,” Komakech asked.

Poverty

According to Joe Burua, public relations officer at the National Focal Point on Small Arms, disarmament on its own will not yield results. Despite a large number of programmes to revitalize the region’s economy – including the Peace Recovery Development Plan 1&2 (PRDP), the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund 1&2 (NUSAF) and British government-supported business development initiatives – poverty remains widespread in northern Uganda.

“We know that people in the north are concerned with their recovery; they wish they live their life outside war… but this [disarmament] must be supported with meaningful protection and livelihood opportunities for the affected people,” he said.

Ex-LRA combatant Paul Okwora, who spoke to IRIN, said incentives such as cash rewards would also encourage people to come forward and hand over their guns. “The problem is poverty. People have nothing to do so anything that can guarantee their safety and improved living opportunities will compel people to give up that firearm… Peace without sustainable livelihood and meaningful reconciliation leaves a fragile situation.”

ca/kr/cb
source http://www.irinnews.org

———–

The Nigerian Government has released two new maize hybrids that can provide more vitamin A in the diets of millions in the country, raising optimism about stemming the menace of vitamin A deficiency in the years ahead, especially among children, pregnant women, and mothers. The provitamin A is converted by the body into vitamin A when the maize is eaten.

The hybrids, which are the first generation vitamin A-rich maize, were released on 4 July 2012 by the National Variety Release Committee of Nigeria as Ife maizehyb 3 and Ife maizehyb 4. They are recognized as IITA hybrids A0905-28 and A0905-32, respectively.

“The hybrids are a product of nearly a decade of breeding for enhanced levels of pro-vitamin A,” says Dr. Abebe Menkir, maize breeder with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), who led the development of the new maize hybrids.

The hybrids outperformed local checks with yields ranging from 6 to 9 tons per hectare compared with 2 tons per hectare recorded on most farmers’ fields.

The vitamin A hybrids were developed by IITA in partnership with the Institute of Agricultural Research & Training (IAR&T) using conventional breeding in a project funded by the HarvestPlus—a Challenge Program of the CGIAR as part of strategies to address the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency. Other collaborating partners include the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria; University of Maiduguri; International Maize and Wheat Center (CIMMYT), University of Illinois, and University of Wisconsin.

In Nigeria, vitamin A deficiency afflicts about 30% of children below five years of age, almost 20% of pregnant women, and 13% of nursing mothers. Vitamin A deficiency lowers immunity and impairs vision, which can lead to blindness and even death.

Researchers say the two hybrids can supply enhanced levels of vitamin A in the diets. Maize is consumed by millions of people throughout Nigeria, whether roasted and eaten off the cob or as a dish prepared from fermented maize flour.

According to Menkir, maize is the most frequently consumed staple in Nigeria with about 20% of households consuming it at different times within a week.

“These hybrids will provide not only increased amounts of provitamin A but also improve productivity in farming communities,” he says.

Farmers who participated in the on-farm trials indicated that they liked the varieties, so there is a high prospect for quick adoption.

IITA and IAR& T, in partnership with private seed companies, now plan to multiply these hybrids so they can begin distributing them to farmers by 2014, and to continue to develop higher levels of vitamin A in maize by conventional breeding.

“We plan to target to areas where maize consumption is high to help address the problem of vitamin A deficiency in Nigeria” says Dr. Samuel Olakojo, a maize breeder with IAR &T, who worked on the varieties with Menkir.

The release of vitamin A cassava in Nigeria last year should help pave the way for broad acceptance of the vitamin A maize. These new maize varieties are well suited to the tropical lowlands of many West African countries and are expected to spread beyond Nigeria’s borders.

In a parallel effort, the International Maize and Wheat Research Center (known by their Spanish acronym CIMMYT) – a sister CGIAR Center of IITA – has been breeding mid-altitude vitamin A-rich varieties for Zambia in a project also funded by HarvestPlus, with release anticipated later this year.

##

IITA (www.iita.org) is an international non-profit research-for-development organization established in 1967 and governed by a Board of Trustees. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. Our award-winning research for development is anchored on the development needs of tropical countries.

IITA is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. CGIAR (www.cgiar.org) is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future that is dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources. 

end

————–

Photo: WHO/Paul Garwood

A nurse taking care of a child during the 2008 cholera outbreak

HARARE,  - More than 100 people in the Zimbabwean capital Harare and Chitungwiza, a dormitory town 35km southeast of the city, have contracted typhoid this month, and the dilapidated water and sanitation systems are again being blamed for another round of water-borne diseases.

According to health officials cited in the local media, 83 cases of typhoid have been confirmed in Chitungwiza and a further 28 in Harare, of which 25 were linked to a supermarket in the Avenues area of the city centre.

Portia Manangazira, the chief disease control officer in the Health Ministry, told IRIN that in June 22 cases of suspected cholera, 10 of which were confirmed, were reported in Chiredzi – a town in Masvingo Province close to neighbouring South Africa – and one confirmed case of cholera was reported in Manicaland Province, which borders Mozambique.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely to make sure the cholera does not spread. The health sector is on high alert,” she said.

A year-long outbreak of cholera in 2008 killed more than 4,000 people and infected about 100,000 others and since then there have been regular outbreaks of waterborne diseases in both urban and rural areas. In January 2012 about 900 Harare residents were diagnosed with typhoid, but no fatalities were recorded.

Harare’s daily water requirement is estimated at about 1,200 million litres, but the city only has the capacity to provide on average about 620 million litres daily, forcing residents to find alternative sources.

Shallow wells

Elizabeth Tembo, from the Harare township of Mabvuku where three people contracted typhoid, told IRIN: “Water supplies in this part of the city have been unreliable for many years and this has forced us to dig shallow wells. Unfortunately, those areas are also used by residents to relieve themselves because toilets do not have running water.” In the past decade or so, sanitation coverage in the city has fallen from 95 percent to about 60 percent, according to health officials.

However, there are also health concerns related to reservoirs supplying the city and other nearby urban areas. Harare’s town clerk, Tendai Mahachi, announced recently that a sanitation plant in Norton, a satellite town 40km west of the capital, had discharged 10 million litres of raw sewage into Lake Manyame, while industrial effluent and raw sewage had been discharged into Lake Chivero.

Donors have been supplying water treatment chemicals to urban and rural municipalities, but this support was scheduled to end in March 2012.

The government announced recently it would spend US$60 million rehabilitating and upgrading water and sanitation systems nationally, including in Harare, and part of that money would also be used for road repairs in areas affected by water-borne diseases.

Precious Shumba, director of Harare Residents Trust, an NGO campaigning for better municipal service delivery, told IRIN: “That figure of US$60 million might just cover part of what is needed to overhaul the Harare city water and sewerage reticulation system. We have reached a stage where we need to urge central government to prioritize the rehabilitation or complete replacement of all outdated systems in order to ensure that residents throughout the country have uninterrupted quality water.”

He said failure to comprehensively address Zimbabwe’s water and sanitation needs would ensure the cycle of “easily avoidable” water-borne diseases continued.

dd/go/cb source http://www.irinnews.org

——–