The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is set to relocate more than 1,300 Sudanese refugees from Nyumanzi refugee settlement in Adjumani district to Kiryandongo refugee settlement.
The refugees who have fled the continued fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rival factions of the military government of Sudan in the capital Khartoum have been arriving in shifts at Nyumanzi refugee settlement in Adjumani district.
According to Titus Jogo, the Refugee Desk Officer in The Office of Prime Minister (OPM), they have resolved together with UNHCR to relocate the Sudanese refugees to Kiryandongo to avoid the looming crisis in the district. Jogo further indicated that the peri-urban location of Kiryandongo refugee settlement suits the livelihood of the Sudanese refugees who are mostly engaged in business activities.
Since the start of the conflict in Sudan in April, large numbers of civilians have been forced to flee, including people who were already internally displaced and refugees from other countries who had sought safety in Sudan.
To date an estimated 6,792,091 people have been forced to flee their homes while others have moved to settle in neighboring countries like Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia according to the UNHCR situational report as of December 4, 2023.
Musa Abdulah, one of the refugees who arrived at Nyumanzi refugee settlement explains that the fighting which broke out in Khartoum and Darfur areas greatly crippled social services like markets and hospitals in his native country.
Mohamad Babikir, another refugee says that all his belongings were looted by rebels who attacked his home in the capital Khartoum.
The Uganda Refugee Response report indicates that the country hosts 1,568,237 refugees and asylum-seekers as of October 2023. According to records from UNHCR, Adjumani district currently hosts the biggest number of refugees in the country estimated at 214,843.
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