Resource-strained Uganda decries massive influx of Sudanese refugees
September 21, 2024 (BWEYALE) – Uganda has received more than 100,000 asylum seekers since January 2024, including an influx of Sudanese refugees fleeing brutal conflict in their home country, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.
Sudanese refugees now make up the largest demographic of newly arriving refugees in Uganda this year, accounting for 36% of the total number of new arrivals.
It further stated that most Sudanese refugees arrive in Kiryandongo settlement in mid-Western Uganda where 150-200 of them are reportedly screened at the reception center daily.
Resources in the settlement are severely strained, with a lack of medical supplies, medicine and adequate health infrastructure posing health and safety risks to the already vulnerable individuals.
Meanwhile, as the main health service provider in the settlement, the aid agency reiterated the urgent need for more funding in order to meet the needs of the growing number of refugees.
Shashwat Saraf, IRC Regional Emergency Director for East Africa, said “More than a year of intense fighting in Sudan has forced millions to flee their homes to escape the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding. They arrive in nearby countries severely traumatized and in need of medical care and basic assistance that is often in short supply, as we’re seeing in Uganda. For refugee hosting countries, more funds are urgently required: today, the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan remains only 23% funded. Beyond that, the violence in Sudan must end now so that people are no longer forced to flee their homes”.
Sudan plunged into a conflict of alarming scale in mid-April 2023 when fierce fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out initially in the capital Khartoum, but quickly expanded to other areas across the country.
The conflict has only exacerbated these conditions, leaving more than half of Sudan’s population in need. The war conflict has also forced millions of people to flee their homes, leaving more than 12 million Sudanese people displaced.
(ST)