Ugandan authorities struggle to cope with influx of S. Sudanese refugees
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March 22, 2014 (KAMPALA) - Ugandan authorities say the country has
witnessed a huge spike in the numbers of South Sudanese refugees
crossing into Uganda via the Elegu border.
JPEG - 49.5 kb
A UNHCR staffer scans the fingerprints of a South Sudanese refugee
child into its database at the Zawanzi transit camp in Uganda's
Adjumani district on 19 March 2014 (ST)
Douglas Asiimwe, a Ugandan refugees protection officer, told Sudan
Tribune this week that some 90,000 South Sudanese refugees were
currently in Uganda, with about 500 new arrivals every day.
"We receive 500 of them daily [and] that seems to be very alarming
compared to previous groups who have crossed in earlier December and
January," said Asiimwe.
He told Sudan Tribune that many refugees had told officials that they
had walked hundreds of kilometres to reach Uganda.
According to statistics from Uganda's three main resettlement camps of
Kiryandongo, Rhino and Adjumani, about 70,000 refugees crossed into
Uganda in the period from December to February.
Adjumani district is the closest camp to South Sudan, but lacks
adequate land to cope with the influx of refugees.
Titus Jogo, another protection officer in the office of the prime
minister, said plans are under ways to make Adjumani a transit point
where transportation would be provided to truck new arrivals to other
districts with more land space once they have been processed.
Jogo cited Kiryandongo or Arua in Imvepi, a former refugee
resettlement area in the early 2000s which has the capacity to
accomodate over 50,000 people, as possible relocation sites.
Following fierce fighting in Jonglei state, many South Sudanese fled
to Nimule in Eastern Equatoria state, however, recent tensions between
local residents and new arrivals from the Dinka tribe has forced
thousands to cross into Uganda.
Ugandan officials say the sharp increases in refugees entering the
country may be linked to the impending rainy season and insecurity
fears given that the mobility of government troops will be limited
during this period.
"They (refugees) also assume that [the] mobility of the government
forces [to] deal with rebels attacks may be too difficult if the rains
begin and they assume that the rebels may be now on the upper hand
because the issue of rebels to hit and run," said Jogo. "Now how does
the government [plan to] diffuse those attacks with bad roads [and
with] with rainy season. That [is] why many of them have decided to
come in advance to Uganda," he added.
The UN says almost one million people have been displaced since
political tensions in the country erupted in violence in mid-December,
including nearly 250,000 people who have fled to neighbouring
countries.
(ST)
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