EDITORIAL
Bundibugyo district leaders have appealed to the Office of the Prime
Minister to offer food supplies to the starving Congolese refugees who
have been entering the district since last week.
On Thursday last week, more than 13,000 Congolese refugees entered
Uganda through the Lamia-Busunga border point following an attack on
several villages in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) by suspected Allied Democratic
Forces-ADF rebels.
Some of the refugees from the Nobili village which
is two kilometers from the border with Uganda have been relocated to
Bubukwanga refugee’s transit camp while others have since returned
home.
Robert Tibakunirwa the Bindibugyo district LCV chairperson said on
Monday that the district local government has no food to feed on the
refugees who are already in the camp. He said that over 1000 refugees
are already in the camp while others are being hosted by their
relatives in the district.
Jean Kaseru, a refugee, said that he fled with his seven children
however since Thursday they only received on Sunday evening.
Misairi Kabugho another refugee at Bubukwanga said that they are
overcrowded and they don’t have sleeping materials.
Francis Ssenyondo,the district refuge focal person said that
humanitarian organizations should come in and provide the refugees
with some of the basic household needs. He adds that the camp lacks
enough safe water sources.
Last week Uganda Red Cross society officials embarked on the
registration of the refugees at Busunga town council headquarters.
Last week ADF rebels attacked Nobili village and killed four people
leaving several others displaced in Uganda.
The UPDF Mountain Division spokesperson Maj. Peter Mugisa said that
the UPDF troops from Busunga border post in Bundibugyo district using
motorized infantry vehicles moved in quickly and repulsed the groups
as they attempted to break into a pharmacy in Nobili.
Mugisa said that when the UPDF soldiers based at Busunga attacked them
they quickly fled out of Nobili and disappeared to a yet to be
identified place.
He said the rebels are using deceptive tactics so that the joint
forces can be drawn to protect the borderlines so that they can
re-occupy their bases in Virunga forest.
He said that at the same time on Wednesday last week at Balu in Djungu
territory Ituri province in Congo the CODE-CO criminals invaded an
internally Displaced People’s camp of Bahema tribe and killed over 60
people.
