12 dead, over 3,000 displaced by ethnic clashes in Nebbi District

Twelve people were killed, at least 3,000 displaced, and more than 1,000 grass-thatched houses torched last week in Nebbi District of Uganda's West Nile area following an attack by the Ugandan Alur people on the Lendu of neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, The New Vision, the Ugandan government-owned newspaper, reported on Wednesday. The Kampala daily reported that the northwestern regional police commander, Geoffrey Erach, had appealed to the government to boost security in the area as fighting in the DRC had been spilling into Uganda. Erach also appealed to relief agencies to aid the affected people, noting that the police had restored some order in the area. The paper reported that the clashes in the Zeu sub-county of Nebbi had been sparked when a Lendu stole 25 pieces of timber belonging to an Alur. In a joint statement, the Ugandan prime minister's office and that of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the Ugandan government and the UN had mandated them to protect and help refugees in Uganda. However, UNHCR and the prime minister's office noted that no aid would be supplied to refugees in Nebbi, as there were no refugee settlements in the district designated by the central government. They urged all Congolese refugees seeking aid in Nebbi to notify the nearest local council, upon which such persons would be registered and transported to settlements in neighbouring Arua District. Upon arrival in the settlements, the refugees would be provided with land to build homes and to farm. UNHCR and the prime minister's office said the refugees would be expected to achieve self-sufficiency until a durable solution, such as repatriation, was found.