Northern Uganda: Returnees on the run again

More Sudanese are fleeing into Uganda after being terrorised by rebels. Contrary to relief agencies’ expectations, Sudanese are arriving in Uganda rather than returning home

The Sudanese refugees that had returned to southern Sudan after the signing of the peace agreement between the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement and the Khartoum government now live in fear. According to the UN news agency IRIN, by the end of June 9,000 people had fled attacks by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA in southern Sudan since January 2005. It is mainly women and children who are fleeing the attacks of the LRA, known for its brutal killing, torture and abduction.

It was hoped that after the peace agreement in Sudan both Uganda and Southern Sudan would attain rapid peace but until now this does not seem to be the case.

Despite the efforts of the government of Uganda to stop the insurgencies both in Uganda and in Sudan, the LRA is still terrorising people. The Ugandan Ministry of Defence July update on the northern Uganda says that the LRA has been weakened with most of its commanders, advisors and fighters either killed, captured or having surrendered. Of these only about ten commanders are operating in Uganda with a few criminals around them, who are concealed in bushy places and occasionally spring up to ambush vehicles and attack villagers in isolated places, distant gardens and at water points.

It is believed that the pressure asserted to the LRA in Uganda and the lack of support from the Khartoum Government has forced them to terrorize the people of Sudan.

Still, Sudanese flee and unfortunately they do not have a guarantee of safety. They are also living in fear of being attacked in Uganda as well.

“We are working closely with the Office of the Prime Minister, the local authorities, UNHCR and other civil society groups to find ways of ensuring the plight and safety of these refugees,” says Ella Dahl Jakobsen, Country Representative of Danish Refugee Council, which works in Moyo, Adjumani, and Arua providing humanitarian assistance to the refugee settlements.

Besides the rebel scare, the refugees also face food shortage partly due to the harsh long dry period but also due to the fear of being attacked while doing farm work.

“I do not know what will happen if it does not rain soon. The refugees do not have food and the animals that they are trying to rare will also die,” says Ella Dahl Jakobsen.

Under normal circumstances relief agencies supplement rations on what the refugees can plant or rare.