Irish Times 3rd November 2005

Déaglán de Bréadun, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Humanitarian aid agency Goal is to suspend operations in parts of northern Uganda after 22 years of work, "due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation".

A Goal statement said the decision was made "after a week of vicious attacks on unarmed humanitarian workers". Three aid vehicles were ambushed - "the highest incidence of attacks seen in the last five years".

Last Thursday marked the most serious incident when an ambush left two aid workers dead, and four seriously injured, in an attack seemingly perpetrated by members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

"This effectively means Goal will no longer be able to support the 184,000 vulnerable displaced in the six camps in the warravaged region where Goal operates." Goal chief executive John O'Shea said the situation was "dire and too precarious" for Goal workers. "It is clear that the aid community is now being targeted; these are workers who are desperately trying to get aid to those that are heavily dependent on humanitarian aid.

"The international community needs to ensure that the aid channels are kept open and secure as a matter of grave urgency so that aid can get to the vulnerable. The lives of several thousand depend on this."