Ouma Wanzala
22 April 2008
Nairobi — Plans to move more than 1,900 Kenyan refuges who have been camping at a transit camp in Uganda have been put on hold.
The UNHCR Uganda office said the refugees at Mulanda camp will not be moved because their new camp in the west of the country was not ready.
"We are yet to start the relocation of the refugees to Kiryandongo refugee settlement in Masindi district in Western Uganda but we sent some people to go ahead to assess what the situation is like," Ms Roberta Russo, the external relations officer at UNHCR Uganda said.
She told the Nation that after discussion with refugees in Mulanda about their findings, people who wished to stay in Uganda would be moved to the new camp.
She said the refugees would not be forced back to Kenya until they feel secure to return home themselves.
The Kenyans fled in January following the eruption of violence after the December disputed polls that left 1,200 dead and more than 350,000 people homeless.
President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga have since signed a peace deal brokered by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan to end the stalemate.
Meanwhile, some families that have been camping at Busia police station since January have started going back to their homes but they still want the Government to compensate them.
The displaced persons said they were going back to their homes in the hope that the peace deal would hold so that they can resume their normal life.
"Life in camps has been hectic," said Ms Mary Wanjiku.
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