20,000 Hema Enter Uganda
May 02, 2003
FOLLOWING the UPDF withdrawal from Ituri region, the number of Hema fleeing the region into Bundibugyo district in western Uganda has reached about 20,000 people herding thousands of head of cattle.
John Thawite In Rwebisengo
FOLLOWING the UPDF withdrawal from Ituri region, the number of Hema fleeing the region into Bundibugyo district in western Uganda has reached about 20,000 people herding thousands of head of cattle.
Tension is mounting between the Hema refugees and their Uganda Batuku brothers, with the latter calling for the relocation of the Hema whose cattle are depleting the pasture owned by the Batuku.
Forced to graze in Semliki National Park, the cattle keepers have also run into conflict with park rangers.
The Rwebisengo LC3 chairman, Arthur Wamara, on Monday said his council had passed a resolution calling for the relocation of the refugees.
They are faced with starvation and diseases including cholera, which has claimed about 100 people since January on both sides of the border.
By the end of April, authorities in Rwebisengo and Ntoroko sub-counties had registered over 6,000 cholera cases.
Those interviewed by The New Vision said a combination of Lendu, former Mobutu soldiers, ADF rebel remnants and the People’s Redemption Army had threatened to annihilate them as soon as UPDF pulls out of the troubled Ituri region.
The Hema are said to have supported the UPDF in defeating Ituri factional leader, Thomas Lubanga earlier this year.
The UPDF started withdrawing from Bunia on April 24.
Ends
FOLLOWING the UPDF withdrawal from Ituri region, the number of Hema fleeing the region into Bundibugyo district in western Uganda has reached about 20,000 people herding thousands of head of cattle.
Tension is mounting between the Hema refugees and their Uganda Batuku brothers, with the latter calling for the relocation of the Hema whose cattle are depleting the pasture owned by the Batuku.
Forced to graze in Semliki National Park, the cattle keepers have also run into conflict with park rangers.
The Rwebisengo LC3 chairman, Arthur Wamara, on Monday said his council had passed a resolution calling for the relocation of the refugees.
They are faced with starvation and diseases including cholera, which has claimed about 100 people since January on both sides of the border.
By the end of April, authorities in Rwebisengo and Ntoroko sub-counties had registered over 6,000 cholera cases.
Those interviewed by The New Vision said a combination of Lendu, former Mobutu soldiers, ADF rebel remnants and the People’s Redemption Army had threatened to annihilate them as soon as UPDF pulls out of the troubled Ituri region.
The Hema are said to have supported the UPDF in defeating Ituri factional leader, Thomas Lubanga earlier this year.
The UPDF started withdrawing from Bunia on April 24.
Ends