UN Disowns Armed Refugees
Jan 24, 2003
FOREIGNERS in Uganda who are engaged in military or combat activities are not the responsibility of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN body’s chief here, has said.<br>
By Joyce Namutebi
FOREIGNERS in Uganda who are engaged in military or combat activities are not the responsibility of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN body’s chief here, has said.
Saihou Saidy recently said the so-called “refugees†who are armed and operating along the common borders of Uganda were not persons of concern to the UNHCR branch office in Uganda.
Saidy was reacting to reports in the Sunday Vision that tension was mounting at the Uganda-Tanzania border due to presence of armed Rwandese refugees roaming at the borderline along the Kagera Salient.
The paper quoted Mbarara RDC Joseph Arwata as saying there had been reports of continuous flow of guns into the refugee camps.
Saidy said a refugee is supposed to be a civilian. “Under its exclusion clauses, UNHCR cannot consider for asylum any person who takes active part in military conflicts,†he said. He said refugee camps were civilian communities. Ends
FOREIGNERS in Uganda who are engaged in military or combat activities are not the responsibility of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN body’s chief here, has said.
Saihou Saidy recently said the so-called “refugees†who are armed and operating along the common borders of Uganda were not persons of concern to the UNHCR branch office in Uganda.
Saidy was reacting to reports in the Sunday Vision that tension was mounting at the Uganda-Tanzania border due to presence of armed Rwandese refugees roaming at the borderline along the Kagera Salient.
The paper quoted Mbarara RDC Joseph Arwata as saying there had been reports of continuous flow of guns into the refugee camps.
Saidy said a refugee is supposed to be a civilian. “Under its exclusion clauses, UNHCR cannot consider for asylum any person who takes active part in military conflicts,†he said. He said refugee camps were civilian communities. Ends