32,000 Sudanese refugees flee to Uganda

KAMPALA, Nov 16, 2004 (Xinhua) — At least 32,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Uganda following increasing raids on their villages in southern Sudan by Uganda’s rebels, local press reported on Tuesday.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement issued here that the refugees had settled in the West Nile districts of Moyo, Adjumani, Yumbe and Arua, northwestern Uganda.

UNHCR spokesman Dennis Duncan was quoted as saying that the upward trend of refugee influx was likely to continue yet the agency was running out of resources.

“Unfortunately, we are at the end of our budget line for 2004. So all facets of our programming including schooling, medical assistance and housing will be stretched to the limit,” Duncan said.

The new arrivals are part of an upward trend since the refugee numbers have been growing in the past months with another 1,000 refugees registered in September this year.

The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) have in the past months destroyed bases of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony based in southern Sudan.

There are reports that SPLA fighters have been bringing their wives and children to refugee camps in Uganda to keep them away from frontlines as they intensify their offensives against the LRA in Sudan.

LRA rebels have killed tens of thousands of civilians, abducted over 20,000 children for fighters, porters and sex slaves, and displaced over 1.6 million people in northern Uganda in their 18- year rebellion.