{"id":171306,"date":"2022-04-09T15:04:39","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T07:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=171306"},"modified":"2022-04-09T15:04:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T07:04:39","slug":"uganda-refugees-from-dr-congo-overwhelm-kasese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=171306","title":{"rendered":"Uganda: Refugees from DR Congo overwhelm Kasese"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"New<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DRC refugees flee to Uganda<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KASESE (Uganda), April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An influx of over 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since April 3 has overwhelmed the authorities in Kasese district.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe number we had on Monday morning has increased from 339 to more than 3,000,\u201d Kasese Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Lt (Rtd) Jolly Joe Walusimbi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refugees who comprise mostly women and children, have been fleeing into Kasese via Kitholu and Karambi sub-counties, Bukonzo West Constituency on the Uganda- DRC, following attacks by suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ADF are reportedly running from Operation Shujaa, the ongoing joint assault by Uganda and Congolese forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have reports that other Congolese refugees have started arriving in Bwesumbu, Busongora North Constituency, via the Rwenzori Mountains,\u201d Walusimbi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Congolese have been fleeing into Kasese following attacks by suspected ADF terrorists on their villages in north Kivu province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday night, the rebels raided Masambu, Ngyingi and Bughumya villages, killing people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fleeing Congolese have been crossing via various porous border points and braving River Lhubiriha, which marks the border between Uganda and the DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources in the affected Congolese areas said that the attackers had so far killed at least 30 civilians since the Sunday 10pm raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe terrorists have looted homes, shops and burnt some houses,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other sources in Masambu said the rebels also killed a Congolese army commander at the rank of a captain in charge of Masambu military unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir (refugees) number is increasing daily,\u201d Bwera division Police Commander SP Boniface Kinyera said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe shall provide them the necessary protection, but I pray the situation back home will normalise so they go back to normal life,\u201d Kinyera said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local leaders in the host sub-counties have, however, said the refugees, now in two camps, were in dire need of food and beddings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RDC said the district had informed the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) of the need for emergency support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVarious humanitarian agencies, including the Uganda Red Cross, M\u00e9decins Sans Frontiers and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are on ground,\u201d Walusimbi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the UNHCR had provided energy biscuits and vehicles to help relocate the refugees to a safe place within Bukonzo west constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since their arrival on Monday morning, they have been temporarily housed at Kasingo and Kiraro Anglican and Catholic churches, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were later relocated to Kisebere Primary School, Kanyatsi playground and Kanyatsi town council in Kitholhu sub-county. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DRC refugees flee to Uganda KASESE (Uganda), April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An influx of over 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since April 3 has overwhelmed the authorities in Kasese district. \u201cThe number we had on Monday morning has increased from 339 to more than 3,000,\u201d Kasese Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Lt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171306"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171309,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171306\/revisions\/171309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}