EU Commission on recent attacks on aid workers and tourists in North Uganda and Southern Sudan

Following the recent attacks on international aid workers and tourists in North Uganda and South of Sudan, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, has issued the following statement on behalf of the European Commission

"I am deeply concerned by the recent spate of violent attacks on international humanitarian aid personnel and tourists in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. One British tourist was recently killed in Murchison Falls national park. Two aid workers have been killed and more than ten people in total injured in ambushes and attacks recorded over the past two weeks. It appears that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is developing a new and wholly unacceptable terror tactic in deliberately targeting expatriates, be they humanitarian aid workers or tourists.

There are 1.4 million displaced people in congested camps in northern Uganda, and many more living in highly vulnerable communities in southern Sudan. Humanitarian access to these people will be seriously hampered if the attacks continue, leading to even greater suffering. In the longer term the prospects for rehabilitation in northern Uganda and for the peace process in southern Sudan could be undermined. This would affect the important aid operations financed by the European Commission to the benefit of the most vulnerable population.

I would urge the authorities in both Uganda and Sudan, working with the international community, to redouble their efforts to find a solution to this twenty-year long conflict."

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