Tough camp conditions force refugees to exit
Congolese refugees lining up for Covid 19 vaccination at Nyakabande refugee transit camp in Kisoro district on April 27, 2022. PHOTO/ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- The commandant at the Nyakabande refugee transit camp, Mr Daniel Kisaamo, yesterday said the number of refugees that illegally lived in the border communities was at 11,483 as of Saturday last week.
A section of Congolese refugees from different settlement camps in western Uganda have started returning to their home country.
According to records at Nyakabande Refugee Transit Camp in Kisoro District coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), about 20,004 people from 9,564 households have been relocated to the different settlement camps in Western Uganda since March 28 when fighting erupted between M23 and Congolese government forces.
The situation worsened on June 13 when the M23 rebels took control of Bunagana border post, forcing more Congolese nationals to flee.
The Kisoro Resident District Commissioner, Hajj Shafiq Ssekandi, on Sunday said 459 Congolese refugees on Saturday returned to their country through Buzanza border post, claiming the living conditions were not favourable.
“We received 459 Congolese refugees seeking to return home. They included 243 males and 216 women. Some of them claimed that they felt insecure with rumours that Ugandan authorities want to chase them away while others claimed that the treatment in the settlement camps is not good compared to last year when they were being provided with enough food, shelter and land for cultivation,” Hajj Ssekandi said.
He said the refugees were from Kyangali and Kyaka II settlement camps and were heading to Kiwanja and Kitagoma in the DR Congo.
“The fact that there is no fighting in our area as of now, we have opted to return home. If fighting resumes, we shall opt to live in the established internally-displaced camps at Rwasa in our home country instead of crossing back to Uganda,” Mr Semahoro Nteringanya, a refugee, said.
The commandant at the Nyakabande refugee transit camp, Mr Daniel Kisaamo, yesterday said the number of refugees that illegally lived in the border communities was at 11,483 as of Saturday last week.
Mr Kisaamo said some Congolese refugees that have been staying at Nyakabande refugee transit camp have accepted to be relocated.
“On Monday (yesterday) we are relocating about 520 Congolese nationals from Nyakabande refugee transit camp because they accepted refugee status in Uganda,” he said.
