Kampala — THE massive repatriation of Sudanese refugees has left districts West Nile with unutilised land. The bushes have engulfed social facilities like schools and safe water sources, which local authorities have failed to put to proper use.

The facilities, worth billions of shillings in Government and donor money, were constructed over the last 20 years to benefit both the refugees and their host communities.

This was the reality that shocked the disaster preparedness minister, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees country representative, Kai Erik Nielsen, on Tuesday.

The officials were in Madi Okollo refugee settlement in Arua district to launch a $24m post-repatriation rehabilitation programme for former refugee hosting areas in the West Nile region.

Kabwegyere castigated the local authorities for failing to find alternative economic uses for the land.

He warned that abandoning such facilities would make it difficult to solicit money for the rehabilitation programme.