Bonn, 19.9.2007. Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) is releasing 100,000 euros to provide relief for around 40,000 flood victims in northern Uganda. They will receive blankets, tarpaulin, mosquito nets and household utensils. "It already started raining in July and that was the dry season," reports Kurt Lange, Welthungerhilfe's Regional Director. "Since then the rain hasn't stopped. Three rivers have burst their banks. Entire villages have been flooded. People's mud huts have been destroyed."

Welthungerhilfe's relief work is centred on the district of Lira in northern Uganda. Floods reached this area over the last two to three weeks. "The tragic thing is that people are being forced to return to the refugee camps which they'd finally been able to leave last year," explains Lange. On 26th August last year, a rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army agreed on a ceasefire with the government. Peace negotiations are still in progress.

Uganda has been torn apart by two decades of civil war. The civil population has been on the receiving end of murder, persecution, kidnappings and rape. More than 1.5 million people were forced to live in refugee camps. "90% of the 350,000 refugees in Lira had returned to their homes," says Lange. "People had just only just settled down into their villages when the floods came."

In January 2008, shortly before beginning of the sowings, Welthungerhilfe will distribute seed and farming utensils to 12,500 families.

Kurt Lange is available for interviews on request.

For further information see www.welthungerhilfe.de