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Sudan Tribune

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Archbishop of Canterbury visits S. Sudan refugees in Uganda

August 2, 2017 (MOYO) – The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has visited South Sudanese refugee camps in the Ugandan districts of Moyo and Adjumani.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby welcomed by pupils in Moyo district, Uganda, August 2, 2017 (New Vision photo)
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby welcomed by pupils in Moyo district, Uganda, August 2, 2017 (New Vision photo)
Religious leaders, government officials, including the state for disaster preparedness Musa Ecweru, pupils and students welcomed the Archbishop on arrival in the camp.

The Archbishop, according to Rev. Hosea Odongo, came from South Sudan where he had gone to inaugurate the new Anglican Church province, comprising of five dioceses.

Odongo said Justin will visit refugees from South Sudan living in Bela Meling in Moyo district and Mireyi in Adjumani, in northern Uganda.

“After visiting those two camps, the Archbishop will return to meet President [Yoweri] Museveni before he departs in the evening,” he said.

Minister Ecweru, who received the visiting Archbishop at Moyo airfield, later took the cleric around the two refugee camps.

“We got a communication from the church that the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury expressed interest to visit the two camps in Ajumani and Moyo and it is the reason I travelled early,” said Ecweru.

The cleric’s visit comes barely a month since Uganda hosted the world refugee conference attended by high profile leaders from across the world, including United Nations secretary general António Guterres.

Uganda is one of the leading refugee-hosting nations in the world.

An estimated 1.8 million people, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), have fled South Sudan since fighting broke out in December 2013, sparking what has become the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis. Officials from the agency say $674 million is needed to pay for the basic needs of the refugees this year, but so far only 21% of those funds have been secured.

(ST)

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