Gulu (Fides Service) - "People are desperate, the world must intervene". This is the call made by Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu with regard to the situation of internally displaced persons living in camps. "Some 800,000 people have been made homeless because of attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels in three districts of the diocese. Considering that the entire population of the diocese is 1.2 million you realise the size of the problem. For ten years these rebel troops have domineered the zone, but it has been only in the last 12 months that the grade of insecurity became so high as to force people to abandon their homes. They are now refugees in their own country and, unable to tend to their land, are dependent on international food aid. I am very concerned about their situation because food supplies are running out. I have spoken with aid workers and they say that by March there will be no more food to distribute. The people also lack clean water. Wells around the camp-site are dry because of drought and other water holes are far away in dangerous combat areas. I am also worried about the children, the first to suffer when food is scarce. I renew my call for immediate adequate supplies of food and medicine to meet the needs in this crisis". The local Church is fully committed to providing assistance to the camp dwellers, Caritas is very active, especially among children kidnapped by the rebels and then released. So far we have collected 600 children, 200 of them are housed in Caritas structures, 400 were re-united with their families." LM (Fides Service 14/2/2003 EM lines 19 Words: 289)