Sudanese refugee killed in Uganda camp attack amid aid tensions

July 12, 2025 (BWEYALE, Uganda) – A Sudanese refugee was killed and several others were injured in an attack with machetes and knives at a camp in northern Uganda on Saturday night, eyewitnesses said, the second such deadly assault in three days amid rising tensions over scarce aid.

Refugees from South Sudan carried out the attack on a compound housing Sudanese nationals in the Kiryandongo refugee camp, the witnesses said. A larger-scale attack reportedly occurred on Thursday night.

“The attack instilled terror and fear in children and women, amid a lack of protection despite repeated assaults,” an eyewitness told Sudan Tribune.

On Friday, the Sudanese embassy in Kampala urged Ugandan authorities to take measures to protect the refugees.

Tensions have been rising in the camp as humanitarian aid dwindles. Uganda hosts over 81,000 Sudanese refugees, many of whom have fled the war that erupted in their home country in April 2023.

The Aseel Feminist Organization, a civil society group, condemned the violence, saying in a statement it posed a “direct and real threat to the lives of women” who have already suffered trauma from war and displacement.

The United Nations has significantly cut support for refugees in the country. The World Food Programme (WFP) said on June 30 that many Sudanese refugees in Uganda were surviving on less than 500 calories a day, a fraction of the daily nutritional requirement.