UGANDA: REFUGEES FLEEING SURGE IN MILITIA ATTACKS IN NORTHEASTERN CONGO CROSS BORDER INTO UGANDAN DISTRICTS OF HOIMA, ISHASHA AND LAKE ALBERT

Record ID: 275350

  • Title: UGANDA: REFUGEES FLEEING SURGE IN MILITIA ATTACKS IN NORTHEASTERN CONGO CROSS BORDER INTO UGANDAN DISTRICTS OF HOIMA, ISHASHA AND LAKE ALBERT
  • Date: 17th February 2005
  • Summary: (BN02) NKONDO, UGANDA (FEBRUARY 17, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. CHILDREN IN A CANOE ON LAKE ALBERT 0.04 2. FISHING VILLAGE 0.07 3. LAKE ALBERT SHORE 0.14 4. ACTIVITIES ON THE SHORE 0.20 5. GIRL STANDING BY BOAT 0.25 6. CANOE ON THE BEACH 0.31 7. LOOKING TOWARDS OTHER SIDE OF LAKE ALBERT, THE DR CONGO 0.36 (BN
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NKONDO, HOIMA AND KAMPALA, UGANDA
  • Country: Uganda
  • Reuters ID: LVA1WHGRG0IUE7YJ8CTQDNHHE2J3
  • Story Text: Thousands flee Congo militia's and seek refuge in
    Uganda

    Some 85,000 people fearing rape, robbery or death
    have fled a surge in militia attacks in northeastern Congo
    so far this year.

    They are running to neighbouring countries like Uganda.

    According to the United Nations Refugee Agency working
    in the area, close to 17,000 have fled into Uganda. They
    left on foot and took canoes across Lake Albert to the
    safety of the Uganda shores.

    The U.N. has warned of a humanitarian crisis in the
    volatile Ituri district and reported at least 52 civilians
    -- mainly women, children and the elderly -- were killed in
    attacks last month. Most were shot or hacked to death.

    People were abandoning their homes as a direct result
    of attacks or because they feared they could be the next
    victims. According to U.N. officials, the latest upsurge began
    in mid-December with attacks by the mainly ethnic Lendu FNI
    group and the predominantly ethnic Hema UPC in the Djugu
    area of Ituri.

    U.N. troops have deployed to protect refugees and
    efforts were under way to end the wave of violence.

    "We can hear, even reports that we are getting from
    along the border, is that we can still hear fighting, hear
    gunshots, and small numbers of people are coming across.

    But we have also been informed that they are sizeable, tens
    hundreds of peoples being displaced now in eastern Congo.

    So we are worried about that, that we can get another
    refugee influx and we have already done contingency
    planning with the districts in Hoima and Ishasha, Lake
    Albert as well, to prepare for a possible influx again of
    sizeable number of Congolese," said UNHCR representative in
    Uganda, Cindhey Durns, speaking in Kampala.

    The violence in Ituri and in the eastern provinces of
    North and South Kivu -- where hundreds of thousands have
    been displaced -- is one of the major obstacles in the way
    of efforts to establish a lasting peace and hold elections
    in Congo.

    The refugees told of villages burned down, many men
    killed, children kidnapped, and girls and women raped.

    "There was war there. The enemies rushed towards us and
    took all our things away. They killed as well, they
    massacred people. They burnt our houses. We've lost
    virtually everything," said Georges Luno, a Congolese
    refugee.

    At least 50,000 people have been killed by militias
    since 1999 in the resource-rich region bordering Uganda and
    clashes have continued despite the end of Congo's wider war
    in 2003.

    The militias are based on tribal and ethnic groups but
    often operate as proxy forces for neighbouring states keen
    to maintain control of mineral resources in Ituri,
    diplomats say.


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