Arua City authorities uncover illegal South Sudanese children facility

Arua City authorities led by the Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Ms Alice Akello, Tuesday evening handed over 45 South Sudanese children to the Office of the Prime Minister and the United Nations refugee agency after they were found in a residence unworthy of habitation.
The children were found at a residence in Olumini Cell, Driwala Ward in Ayivu West Division after residents reported to authorities that they were being starved and only surviving on mangoes.
One of the children said they had stayed for four days without food and that their caretaker had gone to the refugee settlement to collect their rations.
“The place is terrible, the house is incomplete and it has no toilet, it is not plastered, no running water, few of them have mosquito nets and the situation is worse when it rains. The hygiene is basically very poor and unworthy of human habitation,” Ms Akello said.
“It is disappointing that children are undergoing all these difficult situations in the hands of adults. This is unacceptable because Uganda is taking care of all refugees in the country,” she added.
But Mr William Bok, who claimed to be the caretaker of the children, said they were all related to him and he was keeping them in an area for safety.
“My uncle killed someone in South Sudan and we met relatives of the people my uncle killed in the refugee settlement in Thika 4 in Uganda. After negotiations with the settlement commander, they allowed me to take away the children to avoid war, because it might have extended here,” Mr Bok stated.
The children were later relocated by the UNHCR in coordination with the OPM to Rhino Camp settlement.
The LC1 Chairman of the Cell, Mr Omar Acidri, said he only realised when the South Sudanese children had already entered his Cell.
“There were 45 children in this house and to me this was very abnormal so I reported it to OPM. And they were not happy that the children were staying in a congested house,” Mr Acidri stated.
Arua City has been grappling with unregistered refugees from South Sudan despite a call for interventions by the authorities. An organisation was recently contacted to carry out census to establish the number of urban refugees living in Arua City.
It has become a tradition for South Sudan refugees both registered and unregistered, to escape from the camp and start renting houses in Arua City. They only go once a month to collect food from the refugee settlements where they are registered. 
In the wake of the recent insecurity situations in the city where armed robbers were robbing and shooting residents in the area, the RCC said it was important that all LCs know all their residents.