Up to 16,100 Congolese refugees have so far been transferred from Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro district to Rwamwanja refugee settlement in Kamwenge district.
Government on Tuesday transferred 2,500 Congolese refugees from Nyakabande to Rwamwanja, adding on to the 13,100 transferred last week.
Announcing the move on Tuesday at the Uganda Media Centre, the minister for disaster preparedness Musa Ecweru said the government had earmarked Rwamwanja as a potential settlement camp for the refugees.
//Cue in: “We are going today…..
Cue out:…..through Kanungu.”//
The refugees are being transported by United Nations High Commission for Refugees in conjunction with the Uganda Red Cross Society.
The ministry of disaster preparedness under the Office of the Prime Minister has dispatched teams to Rwamwanja to co-ordinate registration and implementation of refugee camps in the area.
With the increasing number of refugees, government has declared Nyakabande a purely transit centre where refugees should not stay for more than five days.
Rwamwanja refugee settlement is approximately 380km from Kisoro district where the refugees had been camping since they started arriving in April. In a statement on Monday, the Uganda Red Cross Society said over 16,000 refugees were at Nyakabande in Kisoro.
Government is now calling on the international community to help in efforts to re-settle the refugees within the country as the meager resources available are not enough for them and the communities they are being sent to.
Fighting between the M23 rebels and the DR Congo government forces has left over 200,000 people displaced.
On Friday last week, at least 600 Congolese soldiers fled to Uganda after the rebels loyal to General Bosco Ntaganda captured the border towns of Bunagana and Rutshuru.
