The National Association of Professional Environmentalists (Nape) has asked the government to halt the process of selecting the Bujagali dam developer until the controversies surrounding the project are resolved. "Appreciating the government's efforts towards providing adequate electricity, the proposed Bujagali dam is marred with numerous technical, environmental, social and economic flaws," they said.

Toronto's Globe and Mail on Tuesday in the second article in a series examined the "largely unacknowledged" HIV/AIDS epidemic in the northern region of Uganda that has been "fueled" by the country's 18-year war. Although HIV prevalence among adults in Uganda's general population is 6.2% and the nation is a "darling of donor countries," the HIV prevalence rate in the country's northern region is 11.9% and rising, according the Christian aid group World Vision.

The Ugandan authorities have arrested two key opposition members of parliament on what appear to be politically motivated charges, chilling the political climate ahead of next year's elections, Human Rights Watch said. Two MPs from the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, Ronald Reagan Okumu and Michael Nyeko Ocula, were arrested on April 20 by the Criminal Investigations Division of the police. Okumu is the party's deputy executive coordinator and MP for Aswa County, Gulu district; Ocula is MP for Kilak County, also in Gulu.

Despite its noble intentions, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) 2001-2003 policy strategies have not adequately addressed the constraints that women and other poor groups face, a report has revealed. The report titled: ‘Engendering Uganda's poverty Eradication initiatives’, dated May 2003 says that the taxation system is of a greater burden to women and other disadvantaged groups contrary to providing an enabling environment to escape from poverty. Taxes listed include graduated personal tax, fees, licenses and market charges among others.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Saturday he could suspend planned prosecutions linked to the war against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Uganda to enable peace moves to succeed. But Luis Moreno Ocampo ruled out any granting of immunity to war crimes suspects.

On the billboard is a photo of two crested cranes - Uganda's national bird. "The Crested Crane sticks faithfully to one partner until death. Abstinence and faithfulness - 100% guaranteed," reads the caption below the entangled lovebirds. This push for abstinence and faithfulness in the fight against HIV/Aids has been welcomed by some sections of society, especially religious groups. However, others consider it dangerous to push the "A" for "Abstinence" and the "B" for "Be Faithful" if the "C" for "Condom" message is lost or diluted.

When Uganda joined the internet bandwagon less than a decade ago it had hopes of delivering important information to farmers. It hasn’t worked out that way: much of the information bypasses farmers (many of them are too poor to access the internet) and there is a general lack of coherence in the way they are presented.

CHRISTINA CLARK argues that in order to fulfil the protection promises made under international legal instruments, UNHCR and the Government of Uganda should allow refugees freedom of movement and the choice to live where they feel most secure – whether in rural settlements, or urban centres.

UN agencies, NGOs and international legal documents often refer to unaccompanied young people displaced by conflict as “the most vulnerable category of an already vulnerable population". As such, they are often deemed to be in need of ‘special protection’. While assumptions of vulnerability should not necessarily be accepted at face value, it is the responsibility of refugee-hosting governments and the international community to fulfil their international protection commitments. However, unaccompanied Congolese young people in different refugee contexts in Uganda consistently report inadequate protection and assistance.

The Ugandan government’s refugee policy, condoned and upheld by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), is that refugees must be in designated rural refugee settlements in order to receive protection and assistance. This policy is based on administrative ease and the belief that refugees inherently pose security threats, rather than on the best interests or wishes of refugees themselves.

Upon arrival in a settlement, refugees are allocated a plot of land, some basic hand farming tools, initial food rations and domestic items. They are then told to construct their own mud hut and begin to farm for food. As part of the government’s self-reliance strategy, refugees’ rations are cut each month to encourage self-sufficiency in food. Refugees who decide for a variety of reasons to live outside of designated rural settlements are deemed ‘illegal aliens’ and subject to punitive action by Ugandan authorities. Some refugees in Kampala have been given exceptional leave to remain in the city, if they can prove their ability to sustain themselves or their families. This means that the legality of refugees' status in Kampala is based on an arbitrary determination of socio-economic status, rather than principles of freedom of movement or other rights.

Unaccompanied minors (UM) are designated as a particularly vulnerable category of refugees by the Ugandan government, UNHCR and NGOs. As such, they are fast-tracked through the refugee determination system and sent to rural settlements as soon as possible. Those who decide to remain in Kampala or ‘self-settle’ in border areas are left to their own devices.

UNHCR will not assist UM outside of settlements, even if they have very good reasons for choosing to live elsewhere (such as, psychological grief associated with massacres in camps and better employment prospects in the city). Seemingly because of fear of territoriality and turf wars, international organisations are also reluctant to get involved. Local organisations that help ‘vulnerable’ Ugandan young people, such as street children and girl mothers, do not feel they can provide assistance to refugee UM. Many think that specialised refugee organisations are/should be taking care of these children/young people.

This means that UM in Kampala often provide for themselves and their younger siblings, while some rely on adults, often Congolese refugees, to provide shelter. While many of the latter are described by the young people as ‘good people’ and in some cases young people congregate around such figures, even when they live elsewhere, there is a huge potential for economic and sexual exploitation. For example, one of my key informants had been taken in by a Congolese family and slept in the living room with about 10 other people. She was subject to unsolicited sexual advances by an adult member of the family and was afraid of being raped. When I reported her protection issues to UNHCR, the protection officer replied that UNHCR could not intervene because the young women had refused to go to a refugee settlement.

However, once UM arrive in refugee settlements, many feel that assistance and protection are no more than empty promises. Like other refugees, they are required to become self-sufficient, farming for food even if they have come from urban, pastoralist or fishing backgrounds. All of the over 100 young people I interviewed in Kyaka II refugee settlement in western Uganda reported that they had never received a visit from government and UNHCR staff. As a 16-year-old unaccompanied male said: "Those people there have no pity for refugees. Even when I came here, I was in very bad condition. They gave me the forest and told me to farm. If I hadn't found the family I am staying with, I don't know what would have happened."

A community services officer admitted that the three staff members allocated for follow-up on ‘vulnerable’ populations were inadequate for Kyaka II settlement, with a population of approximately 10,000 people spread out over hilly terrain. Refugee young people are also disappointed with the poor medical care and lack of educational facilities in the settlement. As one young man who had been living informally in the border area of Bundibugyo before being convinced to come to the settlement said, "When I arrived, I saw life was worse."

In order to fulfil the protection promises made under international legal instruments, UNHCR and the Government of Uganda should allow unaccompanied young people, as well as other refugees, freedom of movement and the choice to live where they feel most secure – whether in rural settlements, or urban centres. This would also contribute to their ability to provide for themselves, consistent with the self-reliance strategy. Unaccompanied refugee young people will also be better protected if they have more direct access to decision-making fora in which they can make their concerns heard. As one young woman eloquently argued, "Even if there isn't material assistance, at least they could talk to us. But they don't want to see us. They ignore people and make them wait for days. Sometimes we see that we are like animals. But, they should be treating us like people."

* Christina Clark is a Commonwealth Scholar at the Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University. She also volunteers with Fahamu. This article is based on 7 months’ field research in Uganda for her doctoral thesis on the political roles of displaced Congolese young people in Uganda.

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The chairman of the Great Lakes regional initiative on Burundi, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has expressed concern over a possible delay in the holding of general elections in Burundi, an official told IRIN on Wednesday. The transitional government in Burundi was set up following the signing of the Peace and Reconciliation Accord by Burundian parties in Arusha, Tanzania, in August 2000. A referendum was held on 28 February and general elections are due before the end of April.

Parliament has passed a Bill that will, among others, protect whistle blowers from punishment and other administrative sanctions. The Access to Information Bill says that people who release information on wrongdoing, or disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, shall not be subject to legal, administrative, or employment sanctions. The provision is in line with the government anti-corruption strategy released last week.

Like millions of working mothers around the world, Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng never has enough time. She constantly struggles to balance the demands of family and her job. But 49 year old Ruth also has a mission: to involve women in bringing peace to African countries. And she is doing this in Uganda — a country that has been plagued by violent conflict for much of its history since gaining independence from the British in the 1960s.

The peace process aimed at ending the eighteen-year old conflict in Northern Uganda is in critical condition because neither the Ugandan government nor the insurgent Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) appears fully committed to a negotiated solution, says the International Crisis Group in its latest briefing. "After the LRA increased its atrocities against civilians in February 2005 and ignored a request to demonstrate its good will, the government decided not to extend its unilateral, limited ceasefire and re-focused on a military solution. The mediator, former Ugandan State Minister Betty Bigombe, needs to obtain a new, more comprehensive government proposal and then test the rebels' willingness for peace by travelling to southern Sudan to put it directly to their leader, Joseph Kony, if the chance to end an extraordinarily brutal conflict is not to be lost. Neither is likely to happen without more international engagement."

The International Court of Justice at The Hague has begun hearing a complaint filed by the Democratic Republic of Congo against Uganda. The DRC accuses its neighbour of invading its territory, committing human rights violations and massacring Congolese civilians. It is also demanding reparations for destruction and looting allegedly carried out by Ugandan troops. Uganda denies the claims and accuses the DRC of acts of aggression.

I-Network Uganda and the Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) have organised the Uganda ICT Journalism Awards to reward insightful reportage of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which shows a clear grasp of ICT issues by writers and manages to succinctly link ICTs to human development. The works should clearly address current communication policy issues and place people at the centre of these policies by showing how communication policies and actions are affecting them.

The policy shift towards "abstinence-only programmes" to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS could reverse significant gains made by Uganda in the fight against the pandemic, Human Rights Watch (HRW), warned on Wednesday. In a new report, titled: "The Less They Know, the Better: Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda", HRW said the Ugandan government had removed critical HIV/AIDS information from primary school curricula, including information about condoms, safer sex, and the risks of HIV in marriage.

More than 1,000 Muslims have demonstrated in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, against a proposed law which they say contradicts the Koran. The Domestic Relations Bill, which is due to be debated in parliament, is designed to harmonise family relations and protect the rights of women. But the Muslim community say aspects of the bill contravene Islamic law.

The government will recruit professional HIV/Aids counsellors in schools. The Commissioner of Secondary Education and HIV/Aids Coordinator in the Ministry of Education and Sports, Hajji Yusuf Nsubuga, said they will create awareness among students on the HIV/Aids scourge.

HNI-TPO will start up a regional programme focusing on the rehabilitation of basic health services in the Great Lakes District and the Horn of Africa. The regional programme will include specific interventions in Burundi, DR Congo and Sudan with an emphasis on disease control (including malaria and HIV/AIDS) and sexual and reproductive health.

The government has decided to withdraw the contentious Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which is now before Parliament, Cabinet sources have said. The Cabinet has settled for splitting the omnibus bill, which is already the subject of litigation, into two, the sources said. Amendments that require approval by only Parliament, including the controversial proposal to lift presidential term limits will be in one Bill, while others requiring ratification by district councils under article 260 of the Constitution, will be in another Bill. These include the proposal for a regional tier (federo) for districts that prefer the arrangement.

Two environmental pressure groups are still opposed to fresh attempts by the government to construct a hydroelectric power dam at Bujagali falls. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Frank Muramuzi, the president of the National association of Professional environmentalists, said there were flaws, which have not been addressed. Muramuzi, who was flanked by Oweyegah Afunaduula, a Makerere University don and secretary of the Save Bujagali Crusade, said they would lobby global funding bodies to halt investment in the dam.