6 killed in refugee camp row
Sep 02, 2003
NAIROBI - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says it was not informed of an operation to relocate Sudanese refugees from a camp in western Uganda to another one further north, close to the Sudanese border.
NAIROBI - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says it was not informed of an operation to relocate Sudanese refugees from a camp in western Uganda to another one further north, close to the Sudanese border.
Scuffles broke out at the Kiryandongo camp in Masindi district in the early hours of Monday morning when the local authorities started forcibly loading the refugees onto trucks.
According to UNHCR, two people were injured in the fighting and required hospitalisation.
Eyewitnesses claimed six people had been killed by flying bullets after armed men in uniform entered the site. “They attacked us from all corners of the camp,†Robert Nyeko, one of the camp’s leaders, told IRIN.
“They forced us to assemble in the middle, then the trucks came in the early hours of the morning (Monday).â€
“I’ve personally seen six dead bodies and many people who sustained bullet wounds,†he added. The Ugandan government has denied that anyone died in the operation.
The refugees were originally moved to Kiryandongo after they were attacked by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Acholi Pii, Kitgum district, three years ago. But the camp is appallingly overcrowded, and it was decided to move the refugees further north to Madiokollo and Ikafi camps, in West Nile district.
The refugees fear a repeat of Acholi Pii because, they say, the new camps are so close to rebel territory.
UNHCR’s regional information officer Kitty McKinsey told IRIN on Tuesday the refugee agency was taken completely by surprise.
Meanwhile, Charles Ariko reports that the Refugee Law Project advocacy officer, Emmanuel Bagenda, yesterday said some refugees had fled the camp in Kiryandongo to avoid relocation.
“We have been receiving phone calls from some of the refugees who said they are hiding in the forests. Some of them want to remain in Kiryandongo,†Bagenda said.
Scuffles broke out at the Kiryandongo camp in Masindi district in the early hours of Monday morning when the local authorities started forcibly loading the refugees onto trucks.
According to UNHCR, two people were injured in the fighting and required hospitalisation.
Eyewitnesses claimed six people had been killed by flying bullets after armed men in uniform entered the site. “They attacked us from all corners of the camp,†Robert Nyeko, one of the camp’s leaders, told IRIN.
“They forced us to assemble in the middle, then the trucks came in the early hours of the morning (Monday).â€
“I’ve personally seen six dead bodies and many people who sustained bullet wounds,†he added. The Ugandan government has denied that anyone died in the operation.
The refugees were originally moved to Kiryandongo after they were attacked by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Acholi Pii, Kitgum district, three years ago. But the camp is appallingly overcrowded, and it was decided to move the refugees further north to Madiokollo and Ikafi camps, in West Nile district.
The refugees fear a repeat of Acholi Pii because, they say, the new camps are so close to rebel territory.
UNHCR’s regional information officer Kitty McKinsey told IRIN on Tuesday the refugee agency was taken completely by surprise.
Meanwhile, Charles Ariko reports that the Refugee Law Project advocacy officer, Emmanuel Bagenda, yesterday said some refugees had fled the camp in Kiryandongo to avoid relocation.
“We have been receiving phone calls from some of the refugees who said they are hiding in the forests. Some of them want to remain in Kiryandongo,†Bagenda said.