Kenneth Ogosia
6 May 2008
Nairobi — The UN refugee agency has begun moving 1,600 Kenyan refugees to a permanent camp in western Uganda.
Those being relocated to Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement in Masindi District, 620 kilometres from the Kenyan border, signed documents indicating they were reluctant to return home.
A STATEMENT FROM the refugee agency UNHCR said 200 others have offered to return home and will be helped to do so on Friday.
Refugees' refusal to come back is a damper to local efforts to resettle those who fled their homes due to post-poll clashes.
"Mulanda camp on the Kenya-Uganda border was a temporary facility without the basic social amenities normally found in the settlements.
"The transfer to Kiryandongo will ensure that refugee children can go to school and families have better health care," said Stefano Severe, UNHCR representative in Uganda.
The statement sent to newsrooms said Kiryandongo has adequate space left by Sudanese refugees who went back home.
"In April we accompanied a group of (Kenyan refugees) to Kiryandongo settlement and back to their areas of origin in western Kenya, so that they would know exactly what their options are and what to expect," Mr Severe said.
THE FIRST GROUP OF 460 Kenyan refugees arrived in Kiryandongo Monday.
On Monday, they will be shown plots (100x50m) allocated for each family.
The land can be put to residential and agricultural use.
In addition to basic supplies, UNHCR will provide seed and agricultural tools.
The relocation is expected to be completed on Thursday.
Kiryandongo settlement has 7,000 refugees, mainly from Southern Sudan. It has four UNHCR-supported primary schools, a secondary school, and a health centre.
Uganda currently hosts 206,000 refugees from Sudan, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Eritrea.
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