Congolese refugees fleeing to Kampala

Numbers of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are fleeing their camps and settlements along the shores of Lake Albert in western Uganda, because they fear being attacked by other refugees whom they believe to be perpetrators of the recent violence in the troubled northeastern DRC district of Ituri. Many are heading for the capital, Kampala, where some are seeking transfers to a third country while others are staying in the city doing casual work, such as braiding hair, according to sources at the Office on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Their numbers have swelled in the small business districts of central Kampala in the months following the Ituri massacres - and the inflow is continuing. The refugees say this is because they are not safe in either the designated government camps or their self-made settlements near the shores of Lake Albert. "There are hundreds of us fleeing. Many of us were living in camps even after identifying the people who killed our relatives," said Sarah Amoti Bahinduka, a refugee who left Kyangwali camp for Kampala at the beginning of October. "We have reported them to the camp authorities and no action has been taken. So we are forced to go to Kampala." "For me, the people who killed my husband are actually living with us. I know who they are and I see them every day," said Rita Birungi, also originally from Kyangwali, "I cannot stay here". Officials from the Ugandan government office for refugees and the UNHCR in Hoima, the regional office in charge of Kyangwali, confirmed that some refugees had sneaked out of Kyangwali and headed for the capital. But they pointed out that many of the refugees who had settled in the Hoima area were fabricating stories in order to get transfers to countries in the developed world. "Some of these people are going to Kampala seeking resettlement in a third country like Australia or America, which we do offer in specific cases. So they are making up problems, hoping they will go somewhere like this," the UNHCR head of refugee operations in Hoima, Marcelline Auguste, said. She said that in special cases, refugees were transferred to Canada, America or Australia for special treatment. "A woman who has been raped or someone who was mutilated or is mentally sick, these we consider to be cases 'at risk', so they sometimes get a transfer," she said. "But of course you can see it is an attraction." Government officials said they thoroughly investigated all complaints from refugees. "When they create stories, we have a team on the ground to investigate," said John Arinaitwe, the refugee desk officer for Hoima, "and often we discover them to be false. So they'll go to Kampala in the hope that someone will believe them there." "They go to our UNHCR offices in Kampala, they go to Interaid, to various NGOs to try and get transferred", Auguste added. "Not just Congolese - Sudanese and Rwandans as well. Most of all, it is an effort to escape to somewhere with a better life than they can get inside a camp. I suppose if I was a refugee, I'd want to do the same." Arinaitwe said a number of Congolese granted refugee status in western Uganda were making frequent trips back to Ituri "to see if things have settled down. Then they come back. Some have relations which they left behind." He said the government was trying to crack down on this: "You cannot claim refugee status if you are hopping back to your country of origin."