Kampala — Arrangements to help thousands of refugees who fled from conflict and disaster areas to reunite with families and friends through the use of mobile technology have been finalised.

The pilot project entitled 're-uniting missing family and friends' has been launched in the move to locate and reconnect refugee and internally displaced persons through innovative use of mobile communications and internet.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Refugees United and communication companies Ericsson and MTN-Uganda jointly launched the programme set to benefit over three million people.

MTN General Manager in charge of Legal and Corporate services, Mr Anthony Katamba, explained that the less fortunate persons would use mobile phones to register themselves, search for loved ones and subsequently reconnect via an anonymous data base using SMS or mobile internet.

"This will be achieved by leveraging mobile technology, primarily the text messaging service by providing a code that enables access to the jointly developed application," Mr Katamba explained.