Refugees move to conflict-prone areas as reduced food ration bites

Yumbe district chairperson Abdul-Mutwalib Asiku has warned refugees in Bidibidi settlement against moving to settle in conflict-prone Uganda-South Sudan border areas.

Speaking during the belated World Refugee Day in Bidibidi Zone three on Friday, June 22, 2023, Asiku expressed concern that many refugees travel from their original camps to settle along the border areas in search of farmland.

The self-resettlement reportedly stems from reduced World Food Program food ration and the food prioritisation strategy recently announced by the same agency effective July 1, 2023.

In Early May, over 3,000 people were displaced and properties lost as South Sudanese of the Kuku ethnic group clashed with Ugandans of the Aringa and Madi ethnic groups in the districts of Moyo and Yumbe over land.

Asiku challenged the refugees to avoid going to the borders amidst the confusion over the ownership of land and increased criminality along the disputed areas.

Abdumutwalib Asiku, the district chairperson Yumbe speaking to people during the World Refugee Day in Yumbe district. (Photo by Robert Adiga)

He asked them to liaise with the host community landlords and the local leaders to secure more farming land from the localities where they are settled.

Dinah Sadia, the Refugee Welfare Council chairperson III, Zone three Bidibidi Refugee Settlement confirmed the exodus of the refugees to the border areas.

She cited mainly the issue of ration cuts and the forthcoming prioritisation where the less vulnerable category of refugees are set to be weaned off food ration by the World food programme.

Despite saying the scuffle has not affected any of the members from her cluster, Sadia advised the refugees to desist from going to the areas where their security is not guaranteed.

Meanwhile, Stephen Lagu, the RWC III chairperson of Bidibidi Zone Two said they have advised their community members to desist from going to farm in the conflict-prone areas along the border until the place is declared safe by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Lagu, however, was concerned that the host community members have increased the prices for the hire of their farmlands from the initial sh30,000 per quarter to now sh60,000 per quarter of the land.