Frightened Hema flee Ituri to Bundibigyo district
Apr 20, 2003
Thousands of panic-stricken Hema have fled the Ituri region into Bundibugyo district in western Uganda, ahead of the UPDF withdrawal next week.
Thousands of panic-stricken Hema have fled the Ituri region into Bundibugyo district in western Uganda, ahead of the UPDF withdrawal next week.
John Thawite reports that President Yoweri Museveni has said the UPDF will withdraw from the area on Thursday and leave a brigade on the western slopes of Mt. Rwenzori.
Sources in Rwebisengo sub-county and the neighbouring Boga zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the Hema were fleeing after threats of reprisals by tribesmen associated with Ituri factional leader Thomas Lubanga, whom the UPDF and allies in the region recently defeated. The Hema have been supporting the UPDF.
The sources said thousands of Hema, most of them women and children had flooded Ntoroko, Rwebisengo and Kanara sub-counties with others going as far as Fort Portal town in Kabarole district.
“We are overwhelmed. They are about 8,000 of them in my sub-county alone,†Kanara LC3 chairman Emmanuel Kawooya said on Wednesday. He appealed for intervention, saying the refugees were faced with starvation, cholera and other epidemics.
The refuges are said to have defied attempts to resettle them in Kyaka, Kabarole district.
Mugenyi, a Kikooga chief, said some Lendu-backed Wangite, Mai Mai and ADF remnants had threatened to wipe out the Hema
John Thawite reports that President Yoweri Museveni has said the UPDF will withdraw from the area on Thursday and leave a brigade on the western slopes of Mt. Rwenzori.
Sources in Rwebisengo sub-county and the neighbouring Boga zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the Hema were fleeing after threats of reprisals by tribesmen associated with Ituri factional leader Thomas Lubanga, whom the UPDF and allies in the region recently defeated. The Hema have been supporting the UPDF.
The sources said thousands of Hema, most of them women and children had flooded Ntoroko, Rwebisengo and Kanara sub-counties with others going as far as Fort Portal town in Kabarole district.
“We are overwhelmed. They are about 8,000 of them in my sub-county alone,†Kanara LC3 chairman Emmanuel Kawooya said on Wednesday. He appealed for intervention, saying the refugees were faced with starvation, cholera and other epidemics.
The refuges are said to have defied attempts to resettle them in Kyaka, Kabarole district.
Mugenyi, a Kikooga chief, said some Lendu-backed Wangite, Mai Mai and ADF remnants had threatened to wipe out the Hema