Adjumani Refugee Settlement, Northern Uganda - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is upgrading its emergency response to deal with the increasing numbers of refugees fleeing South Sudan as the country’s new unity government fails to bring peace.
“Despite expectations that there would be an improvement in the humanitarian situation with the implementation of the new government in South Sudan, the opposite is happening and we are alarmed by this,” said Akiko Tsujisawa, UNHCR’s protection officer from Adjumani Refugee Settlement near the South Sudan border.
“In 2015, 23 000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Adjumani, an average of around 63 per day,” Tsujisawa told the African News Agency (ANA) on Thursday.
“The number of new arrivals has increased sharply in 2016, with a daily average of around 200.
“Reports in recent weeks from new arrivals have informed us that they are fleeing due to increased activities by militia groups in South Sudan, who are looting villages, burning down houses, committing acts of physical assault and forcibly recruiting children into their ranks.
“The situation is exacerbated by failing crops, at a time when food prices are increasing due to inflation,” said Tsujisawa.
ANA spoke to Amnesty International’s (AI) South Sudan researcher Elizabeth Deng shortly before the recent return of former South Sudanese opposition leader and incumbent vice president Riek Machar.
Machar arrived in Juba on April 28 to form a new unity government with South Sudan President Salva Kiir following a two-year civil war between the two bitter political rivals, and their supporters, which left thousands dead and uprooted tens of thousands more.
“The arrival of Machar and the formation of the new unity government would help establish bodies that would end the culture of impunity in regards to human rights abuses,” said Deng in an interview from Nairobi.
“Once the unity government is formed it will be a step towards the implementation of the peace agreement.
“The peace agreement would include the African Union (AU) establishing a hybrid court, provide for a truth commission, and a compensation and reparation authority,” said Deng.
However, this has failed to materialise.
UNHCR emergency response team members told ANA during a briefing in Adjumani that the number of new arrivals in Uganda had initially decreased following the signing of the peace deal in South Sudan in August 2015.
However, the numbers started increasing following the deterioration in security conditions in South Sudan’s Jonglei and Eastern and Western Equitoria states in January 2016.
Accordingly the UNHCR has had to revamp and strengthen its emergency response.
There are now 132 250 refugees in Adjumani’s 17 resettlement camps.
Five thousand refugees arrived in March alone.
UNHCR is implementing a number of strategies to help the refugees and asylum seekers in conjunction with the Ugandan government.
The aim of these is to ensure legal support, social services, including child protection, assistance to vulnerable persons, psychosocial activities and community building in the settlements are provided to South Sudan’s vulnerable.
The Uganda education strategy aims to increase enrolment for children aged 6 to 13 in primary schools and improve access to secondary, skills training and tertiary educations.
Medical Teams International (MTI) together with the UNHCR are providing preventive health services at nine health centres in Adjumani.
Refugees also have access to nutrition programmes in the settlements, while all children are immunised upon arrival at reception centres.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR provide hot meals for refugees at the reception centre as well as monthly food rations once refugees are moved to settlement plots.
The UN is endeavouring to meet the minimum water requirements for refugees in addition to supporting sanitation activities with its partners.
Shelter kits and relief items are provided to the refugees on their arrival.
“We support livelihood interventions by building household capacity for food and income security through training and improving access to agricultural inputs,” said the UNHCR members.
“Non-agricultural support is also provided and it includes enhanced access to materials and capital to start or develop small businesses such as soap making, tailoring, hairdressing, retail shops, restaurants and phone-charging,” said UNHCR.
With its partners, UNHCR is also supporting environmental intervention by building individual and institution capacities through training, establishment of nurseries and provision of seedlings.
– African News Agency