Uganda: Government to allocate emergency funds for IDPs

The Ugandan cabinet has approved an emergency allocation of 1.2 billion shillings (about US $630,000) to aid civilians displaced by an 18-year rebel war in the north and east, a senior government official has said. The budget was in response to an unexpected surge in the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the beginning of 2004, following a spate of attacks by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels on civilian targets, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Moses Ali told IRIN.