16,000 Sudanese Refugees Relocated Admist Protests
The Monitor (Kampala)
September 30, 2003
Posted to the web September 2, 2003
Mwanguhya Charles Mpagi
Kampala
A woman was injured in a riot at Kiryandongo refugee camp yesterday. More than 16,000 Sudanese refugees were protesting a government move to relocate them to new settlements in West Nile.
Police spokesman Assuman Mugenyi said that the woman was hit by a rubber bullet as anti-riot police quelled the riot.
"She was hit on the back by a rubber bullet. She was treated at Kiryandongo hospital," he said on the phone from Kampala yesterday.
Mr Mugenyi said the riot occurred at the start of the relocation.
Mugenyi accused the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of instigating the riot.
"They were resisting relocation," he said. "We have deployed [more police] because these fellows had vowed not to leave especially with agitation from the UNHCR," Mugenyi said.
The UNHCR was opposed to the government's plan to relocate the refugees citing security concerns in West Nile.
The issue caused a major stand off between the government and the UN body in April this year leading to the expulsion of the UNHCR representative Saihou Saidy.
The relocation exercise, which kicked off yesterday, is expected to end by September 15.
The prime minister's office has deployed 32 trucks to carry the refugees to their new home in Madi Okollo in Arua and Ikafe in Yumbe district.
A statement from the UNHCR quoted Acting Country Representative Juan Castro-Magluff as saying that "the commencement of the relocation will mark the beginning of a new life for the refugees".
The 16,000 refugees were taken to Masindi in August last year after rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army attacked their camp at Acholi Pii in Kitgum district.
The rebels killed and abducted several refugees in the raid.
A statement from the refugee body yesterday said, "Logistics and security aspects of the relocation exercise are the responsibility of the government."
The government says the relocation is aimed at decongesting Kiryandongo, which already hosts 13,000 other Sudanese refugees and several others of different nationalities.
