Refugee population to hit 700,000 , says disaster minister

Refugees at Pagirinya Refugee settlement in Adjumani, near Uganda’s border with South Sudan. File photo

What you need to know:

  • According to the UNHCR’s annual Global Trend report, by the end of last year, Uganda was hosting 512,968 refugees and asylum-seekers.
  • The UK has provided 43 million pounds through the United Nations systems to support countries to respond to the influx of refugees.

KAMPALA- The unchecked influx of refugees into the country would soon clock 700,000, State minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Musa Ecweru has said.
Mr Ecweru said that the influx is a result of the caring asylum space in Uganda coupled with the turbulent situations in the neighbouring countries like South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Eritrea.
“This huge refugee population presents a challenge to us in maintenance of law and order in areas hosting refugees and ensuring communicable diseases do not get into the country,” he said.

Other challenges, the minister said, include environmental protection and effective interventions that are meant to improve social services.
According to the UNHCR’s annual Global Trend report, by the end of last year, Uganda was hosting 512,968 refugees and asylum-seekers, the highest number in the country’s history. The country became the 8th-largest refugee hosting country in the world and the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. - Mr Ecweru made the remarks while hosting the United Kingdom Minister for Africa, Mr Tobias Ellwood at his office in Kampala.

Mr Ellwood who is on a two-day visit to Uganda to understand the situation of refugees and the policies implemented by the Uganda government to manage refugees.
The minister described the government policy on refugees as the most humane and forward-looking built on hospitality of citizens saying that Uganda recognise refugees as human beings and thus reject the idea of treating them as second class citizens.

Mr Ellwood commended Uganda’s policy of welcoming those fleeing danger in other countries and pledged more support to government to resettle people from conflict areas.
“We are going to be committed in the long term to support and encourage you to look at how registration system can be addressed. The makeup of refugees is complicated if you do not understand who they are, you cannot make a target,” he said.
Mr Ellwood asked regional governments to exert pressure on all stakeholders to provide necessary conflict building mechanisms to restore peace in the war tone South Sudan.

“We cannot deal with the problem by simply peacekeeping. We need to give people a vision to know that they can in long term leverage themselves,” he said.
The United Kingdom, according to Mr Ellwood has provided 43 million pounds through the United Nations systems to support countries to respond to the influx of refugees. He also revealed that the UK government recently committed a further ‎£ 5 million towards assisting the refugee problem.