UGANDA: Congo refugees say poor conditions force them to risk their lives to travel back home

Record ID: 274544

  • Title: UGANDA: Congo refugees say poor conditions force them to risk their lives to travel back home
  • Date: 27th March 2014
  • Summary: KYANGWALI, UGANDA (MARCH 25, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOUSES IN KYANGWALI REFUGEE SETTLEMENT VARIOUS OF INCOMPLETE HOUSES LEFT BEHIND BY REFUGEES CHILDREN STANDING OUTSIDE A HOUSE VIEW OF REFUGEES THROUGH ROOF NTOROKO, UGANDA (MARCH 22, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATION AFTER BOAT ACCIDENT VARIOUS OF RESCUERS CARRYING BODIES FROM LAKE SHORE K
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uganda
  • Country: Uganda
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9KGJP0J9IQXH2NPYFIU5QJ5PH
  • Story Text: Incomplete structures lay abandoned at the Kyangwali refugee settlement camp in western Uganda. The camp is home to over 40,000 refugees from trouble spots around the region, including northern Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    Some of those whose homes have been left behind were victims of a boat accident in Lake Albert, along the border of Uganda and DRC. The boat carrying mostly Congolese refugees tipped over early on Saturday. Police say it was overloaded, a common factor in similar tragedies in the east African country.
    The Albertine Rift region of Uganda is home to thousands of Congolese refugees who have fled strife at home over the years, particularly in DRC's eastern region, which has been plagued by violence involving various rebel groups.
    Authorities estimate about 150 people were on the boat and say they expect no more survivors.
    Refugees use both the boat route via Lake Albert and roads to return home despite the dangers of crossing the lake in small vessels.
    At Kyangwali - a camp set up by the United Nations Refugee agency UNHCR, the victims' friends and countrymen say it could have been any of them on that boat. Those who died were trying to find their way back to Congo.
    Some refugees here say the conditions in the camp are worse than those they left behind.
    Bartaza Bauta is the head of the Congolese refugee community at the camp. He lives here with his family of six, including his grandmother. He says there are not enough food handouts in the camps to survive. Bauta planted Cassava but hasn't harvested a single crop yet.
    "We as refugees, the way we have experienced suffering, the kind of suffering that has led our colleagues to die in the Lake in hundreds, we see it best that UNHCR return us to where we came from, even if we suffer there, at least we know how to survive and besides, it is were we grew up," he said.
    Usually refugees are provided up to 100 percent of their food requirements at the settlement and with time, that support is phased out as they become self reliant by cultivating their own food.
    But an influx in the last year following conflicts in Congo and most recently South Sudan, has seen the numbers in the settlement swell and aid agencies struggling to keep up supplies.
    Food rations have been slashed by half, refugees say. They also complain that there is no health care. They are now asking aid agencies to arrange safer repatriation for them to return to Congo.
    "We don't have much to say even if they bring more food we will not accept, we have suffered so much here, even if you go to the health center they don't give you the right prescription," said Antoinette Mavira, another Congolese refugee.
    Authorities and aid agencies say they are doing their best to provide for the refugees and accuse some of selling their rations.
    "February we gave them 100 percent, we gave them posho (maize) but they put something which was again challenging that they don't eat posho, that is what World Food Programme provided, what should I have done? So we gave them beans but they sold everything," said Mose Kirya, a representative from the Office of the Prime Minister which deals with refugee matters in Uganda.
    Uganda is still host to almost 175,500 refugees from DRC.
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