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KAMPALA -- Government is relocating Sudanese
refugees from Kiryandongo camp in Masindi to West Nile, to make room
for a group of white Zimbabwean farmers, The Monitor has
learnt.
Sources
told The Monitor that plans are in advanced stages to help
Zimbabwean farmers start a new life in Uganda.
The
white farmers in Zimbabwe have lost land in the wake of President
Robert Mugabe's land redistribution programme.
The
Minister of State for Planning, Mr Isaac Musumba, could not confirm
whether the Kiryandongo area would be given to the Zimbabweans. He,
however, said that the government is considering resettling some of
the farmers in Bunyoro.
"All I
know is that Masindi was mentioned," he said. Government used police
to force the rioting 17,400 Sudanese from the Kiryandongo transit
camp to West Nile.
Musumba
said in a phone interview yesterday that all government land has
been given to the Uganda Investment Authority to boost
investment.
He said
that there are many Zimbabwean farmers interested in Uganda. He has
already talked to about twenty of them.
"But
they wanted more than land. They wanted agricultural finance. You
see agriculture in other countries enjoys a different kind of
interest, so they wanted government to help them retire their loans
in Zimbabwe and move them to Uganda and see how we start," Musumba
said.
He said
that the new demands from the farmers are delaying their
resettlement here.
The
government needs at least $3 million (Shs 6 billion) for a start.
"And there are Indian and Ugandan investors who requested similar
incentives, so would it be fair to give the money to the Zimbabwean
farmers?" asked Musumba.
However, the First Deputy Premier and Minister for Disaster
Preparedness, Lt. Gen. Moses Ali, denied reports that refugees are
being moved to make room for the farmers. He said that Kiryandongo
will remain a refugee camp.
"Those
are just rumour mongers. The place was a refugee camp before the
Sudanese were moved there from Acholi pi. The people they found
there will stay," Moses Ali said on Monday.
The
acting representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees Mr Magluff J. M. Castro said that he is not aware of any
plans to resettle Zimbabweans at Kiryandongo.
Musumba
however said that having Zimbabweans here will boost the export
network, improve access to markets and crop quality as well as boost
the outgrowers' incomes.
The
Director, Land Development Division at the Uganda Investment
Authority, Mr Patrick Nyaika, said that no areas would be gazetted
for a group of Zimbabwean farmers.
He said
that the land would be leased depending on the farmers' proposals.
Nyaika said that the UIA had received submissions from the farmers.
He said
that he had no idea that Kiryandongo refugee camp is being
considered as a possible home for the Zimbabweans.
He
however explained that the government allowed the authority to lease
out land to investors.
"Seventy percent of Uganda's land is not utilised for
agriculture yet it is suitable," Nyaika said yesterday.
He said
that no investment project would displace citizens in favour of
Zimbabwean farmers. | 
