Save the Children out of Uganda

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33520, 29 April 1974, Page 3

Save the Children out of Uganda

fNew Zealand Press Association)

WANGANUI, April 27.

The withdrawal of Save the Children Fund from Uganda was a matter of great regret, said the newly-appointed director of overseas relief and welfare with the fund (Mr J. Gunibei) in Wanganui.

“We are withdrawing partly because we cannot guarantee that money will reach sponsored children, and partly because of incidents arising which have affected oui- medical and welfare unit,” he told the fund’s Dominion conference.

The incidents were such that they could not be tolerated, Mr Cumber said. Other voluntary organisations had withdrawn months earlier.

He said the United Nations had withdrawn to Nairobi, leaving only a minimum staff in its Kampala offices. Mr Cumber said he was not able to describe the intolerable incidents because of a possibility of retribution on the fund’s units if too much were said publicly. The fund had investigated the possibility of continuing sponsorship to almost 100 children near Kampala. This was possible, but sponsorships of those in outlying areas would end because of the uncertainty in delivering money. “We are therefore obliged to withdraw until happier

times appear in Uganda,” he said.

Mr Cumber, who is in New Zealand for three weeks, told 100 delegates from all over New Zealand of aspects of the fund’s work in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and South Vietnam.

He expressed concern for the safety of the girls working in Phnom Penh, where a unit had arrived just as the wives and families of ambassadors were being taken out. He had gained assurance that the girls would be flown out if the situation deteriorated. In South Vietnam, where schemes had been extended since last July, the Government was trying to establish refugees on small plots of land.

Unfortunately, many people were being injured as they ploughed the fields and mines and bombs were turned up, Mr Cumber said.

The fund’s team was instrumental in helping children recuperate and rehabilitate themselves after being treated by a New Zealand surgical team, Mr Cumber said.