OVER 200 displaced Kenyans at the Mulanda transit centre in Tororo have registered to relocate to Kiryandongo refugee camp in Masindi district.
The Tororo resident district commissioner, Mpimbaza Hashaka, said 14 refugees accepted to return home while over 1,803 opted to stay in Mulanda.
“Those who want to remain in Tororo said the situation home had not improved. Some say they still need to closely monitor events at home and Kiryandongo is too far away from the Kenya-Uganda border,” he explained.
The district, Hashaka added, had secured 100 acres of land in Mulanda to settle Kenyans who would remain in the district, noting that by Wednesday, the refugees at the centre totaled 2,017.
About 12, 000 Kenyans fled to Uganda following the disputed December 27, 2007 polls that sparked off ethnic violence, claiming over 1,500 lives.
However, incumbent President Mwai Kibaki last week appointed a government of national unity encompassing the opposition ODM party with its leader Raila Odinga as the prime minister.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Government last week began registering the refuges in preparation for the relocation.
Last month, the UNHCR country spokesperson, Roberta Russo, said the refugees would be moved to Kiryandongo in mid-April. However, she explained that the exercise had been delayed until May for more preparation.
“We need to prepare start-up items like relief food, utensils and blankets to distribute to them. They also need to get the identity of the plots that each will be allocated at Kiyrandongo.”
The state minister for refugees and disaster preparedness, Musa Ecweru, said they were in touch with their Kenyan counterparts to help the refugees who intend to return home.
