Provide utilities before we return, say Sudanese refugees

Thousands of Sudanese refugees living in neighbouring Uganda said on Monday they could not return home until numerous problems they might encounter, such as insecurity and lack of utilities in southern Sudan, were resolved. Speaking during a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, they said disarmament of fighters, repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their villages and the insurgency led by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) were at the centre of their concerns. "We have enough courage to choose home over permanent asylum as the best solution for the majority of us," Peter Taban, chairman of the refugee community in Impevi verification centre in Arua, said. "However, before repatriation, we feel that utilities and problems in southern Sudan should be corrected and rehabilitated." He added: "We feel that home is home. We are pleading with the Ugandan government and UNHCR to provide maximum security during the repatriation so that our life and property are moved safely." Guterres, who commemorated World Refugee Day in the northwestern Ugandan district of Arua, told the refugees they would need courage to face a "devastated land" upon their return home. He told them that they may "find that many of your family and friends have died in the fighting". On his sixth day as head of UNHCR, Guterres visited refugees at Ikafe settlement in Arua district, which was opened in 2003. It is home to 10,000 refugees whose first settlements were attacked by the LRA. Guterres spent the night listening to the refugees’ problems. In front of thousands of mostly Sudanese refugees, he praised Uganda as "an extraordinary and special example of generosity and solidarity" towards refugees. "This is not an easy world for refugees," he said. "In countries much richer than Uganda, in my part of the world, we've seen policies more and more restrictive about refugees." Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, called on the international community to adopt a fresh approach to asylum seekers, whom he said were categorised as terrorists in many countries. "Refugees are not terrorists, but victims of terror," he said. "They must be helped and Uganda is doing its part. "We need to distinguish immigration issues from refugee issues. We should not discriminate against [people who are] looking for asylum. Prosecution of asylum seekers is an extreme measure needing extreme care. It should only be done when there [are] genuine security fears," he added. Guterres said the world must not forget that there were assistance gaps in Africa that needed funding: "I am happy to be here at a moment when the international community is awakening to the need to give Africa a minimum of conditions to face the challenges of globalisation. "When some start to talk about the need to double the support to Africa, I hope the international community will not forget that there are gaps in humanitarian protection and development conditions that are not funded. Those gaps must be bridged if we want Africa to be a symbol of peace, stability, democracy, human rights, sustainable development and social cohesions," he added. Uganda is home to nearly 250,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, and is struggling to deal with some 1.6 million Ugandans who have been displaced by the long-running conflict between the government and the LRA. The refugees said the signing in January of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army had encouraged them to return home. Despite the peace deal, however, aid workers report that almost 9,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed the border into Uganda since January. The refugees said they were fleeing hunger and attacks by armed militias, particularly the LRA, which has bases in southern Sudan. Meanwhile, the patriarch of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos, said on Monday that debt cancellation and a doubling of international aid could alleviate Africa’s refugee crisis. African leaders should also take more decisive action to help the continent's millions of refugees, the head of the 40 million-strong Church said at celebrations to mark World Refugee Day at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Ethiopia's director general for African affairs, Konjit Sinegiorgis, said the continent hosts the largest number of refugees and displaced people in the world. "As a result, African countries have paid enormous sacrifices which include degradation of the environment and destruction of infrastructure. "The huge magnitude of the refugee problem in Africa is a stark reminder for Africans to work resolutely towards addressing the root causes through the institutionalisation of democracy and the rule of law as well as fostering tolerance," she added. There are 4.5 million African refugees around the world - many of whom fled to avoid the many wars and poverty on the impoverished continent. According to UNHCR, global refugee numbers fell by 4 percent to 9.2 million in 2004, the lowest figure since 1980. However, the drop masks a worrying rise in the number of people displaced within their own countries, notably in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where more than 600,000 people have been driven from their homes. UNHCR said on Friday that the total number of "people of concern" to the agency, including refugees and IDPs, had climbed to 19.2 million in 2004, up from 17 million in 2003.