|
UNHCR relocates Kenyan refugees
in Uganda
23 Jan 2008 18:08:39 GMT
Source: UNHCR
MULANDA, Uganda, January 23 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on
Wednesday began relocating an estimated 6,500 Kenyan refugees away
from border areas in south-east Uganda to a transit centre some 35
kilometres inland.
Six buses carrying an initial group of 360 refugees set off in
driving rain from the border towns of Busia and Malaba and arrived
an hour later at the Mulanda centre. Rain is regarded as an
auspicious sign in many African cultures.
Another 360 refugees were expected in Mulanda by the end of
Wednesday. During the five-day relocation operation, the rest of
the newly arrived refugees will be moved from Malaba, Busia and
Lwakhakha to the transit centre here.
The first group of Kenyans queued patiently on the verandah of the
polytechnic-turned-transit camp in Mulanda to be registered. Many
carried plastic bags containing the meagre possessions they were
able to salvage before being chased from their homes in
post-election violence across the border in Kenya.
By Wednesday, some 200 tents provided by UNHCR had been erected at
the transit centre in readiness for the refugees. The refugee
agency was preparing to put up another 300. The UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), meanwhile, was installing four water tanks with a total
storage capacity of up to 40,000 litres.
Registered refugees will receive ration cards which entitle them
to food, basic household commodities and other services at the
transit centre.
Many of the refugees on today's convoys have been living at
schools in Malaba and Busia, with women and children quartered in
classrooms and men sleeping in tents. Other groups of Kenyan
refugees are living with relatives and friends.
"Some of these [latter] people may not move to Mulanda because
they prefer to stay close to the border where they can closely
follow developments taking place on the other side," said a UNHCR
official who travelled with the refugees from Busia to Mulanda.
She added that they were anxious to return home, put their
children back in school and rebuild their lives.
In contrast, many of those moving to Mulanda on Wednesday were
expecting to be there for some time. "I have nowhere else to go.
We plan to stay here for some months as we decide what to do next,"
said Rahab Wanjiru, a dealer in electronic goods in Busia, which
straddles the border.
Her shop was set ablaze by drunken youths as they hunted down
people from Wanjiru's ethnic group after the results of the
December 30 presidential poll were announced, sparking violence
that has left hundreds dead. "We fled to the police station, where
we spent the night. The next day we crossed into Uganda," Wanjiru
recalled.
David Waweru, aged 23, said the post-election violence in Busia
had come as a severe shock. "The people who came to burn our house
were my friends. I used to hang around with them. How can they
beat me because I am of a different tribe," he said, while waiting
to register. "It will be hard to go back. I cannot stay with
people who are ready to kill me."
The refugees moving to Mulanda are expected to remain there for
several weeks. Their return will depend on developments in Kenya
and if things do not improve, they will be offered the chance to
move to long-established refugee settlements in western Uganda.
Uganda currently hosts more than 216,000 refugees, mostly from
neighbouring Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Rwanda. The country is also coping with 850,000 internally
displaced persons.
By Roberta Russo in Mulanda, Uganda
|
