15, 000 refugees enter Uganda

More than 15, 000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, entered Uganda this April — the UN High Commissioner for Refugees situation report for April said.

Close to 310 immigrants arrive into the country every day.

The new arrivals place the total number of refuges and asylum seekers in the country at close to 1.5m (1,444,856).

Refugees from South Sudan report fleeing primarily out of fear of being killed by fighters from either side of the conflict inside the country, while those from DRC report violence related to the upcoming elections as main reason for departure, said the situation analysis report.

Burundians indicate forced participation in the voting exercise for a new constitution as reason for leaving their country, it said.

The humanitarian situation remains unpredictable in South Sudan, DRC and Burundi.

The continued influx of refugees and a funding gap greater than 80 percent poses difficulties to provide basic humanitarian aid to the immigrants. More and more new arrivals suffer a deficiency and lack basic resettlement amenities, including shelter, food and access to necessary health care services and education, amid funding gaps, the report said.

The total amount requested by the Office of the Prime Minister and UNHCR to ably look after refugees this year totals $470.6m. But the refugee agency has received just about $46.4m.

Most of the money is donations from the European Union, Irish Aid, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.

World leaders fundraised more than $358.3m at the solidarity summit for refugees held last year.

The European Union, Germany, and the United Kingdom were some of the big givers, with the countries contributing close to $300m, €50m and $50m respectively.

While the meeting hoped to raise at least $2 billion, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the $358.3m given as a "big start".

But some of the pledges are yet to be honoured.

Guterres said the United Nations and international community would continue to lobby for funds to try and better refugees' living conditions and their host communities.

The situation analysis shows 1,053,598 of the refugees in Uganda are from South Sudan. 276,570 are from DRC. 40,497 from Burundi. 37,193 from Somalia. Others are from Rwanda, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said this week Uganda will continue to do "everything possible to make refugees feel at home", as well as continue to engage relevant authorities in the region and beyond to try and restore regional peace.