Evicted Ugandans stranded at border in dire need

Hundreds of Ugandans who have been evicted from a national park in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stranded at the border in dire need of relief, a Ugandan minister said on Wednesday. "They lack food, shelter and medicine. Already we have had reports of many cases of diarrhoea and malaria where they are camped at the border areas of Mpondwe [350 km west of Kampala]," said Christine Amongin Aporu, junior minister in charge of refugees and disaster preparedness. A team had been sent to Mpondwe to assess the conditions of those who had been evicted. As many as 800 of the estimated 6,000 evictees already had crossed over to Uganda from areas surrounding the Virunga National Park in DRC with about 3,000 heads of cattle, she said. Half of those expelled from the park were women and children. They are said to have lived in Busongora area of Kasese district in Uganda before crossing the border into DRC in 1998. Aporu said the government had set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into the eviction problem. "I, together with another minister colleague, am visiting the areas later this week to further assess the situation and look into their humanitarian aspect. The DRC government never told us about this eviction," she said. The Ugandan government had also asked the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for help. Alex Loriston, WFP deputy country director for Uganda, said that the agency's office in the southwestern town of Mbarara had been asked to carry out an assessment. "We shall take trouble to get land and resettle these people," said Aporu. The Ugandan Red Cross Society had been asked to provide those affected with shelter material and blankets, and the government was delivering medicines to nearby health centres as well. Authorities in DRC have given the Ugandans until 6 April to leave the national park.