Government resettles Kikagati returnees

The Ugandan government has transferred nearly half of 2,800 Ugandan deportees from Tanzania, who have been camping in difficult conditions for more than a year at Kikagati, Mbarara District in southern Uganda, to a new location in Kamwenge, according to a senior official within the Office of the Prime Minister. Martin Owuor, an Assistant Commissioner in the disaster preparedness and prevention department of the Office, told IRIN on Wednesday that about 1,268 of the returnees had been resettled in Kamwenge District, neighbouring Mbarara, and each individual family allocated two acres of land, a three-month food ration and agricultural tools. The Ugandan returnees are part of a group of 3,027 Ugandans, mainly ethnic Bakiga cattle herders, expelled from Tanzania, allegedly for voting against Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in elections in October 2000, according to media reports in January. The expulsions were effected after CCM lost the elections in the northwestern Tanzanian district of Karagwe, Kagera Region, where the long-time Ugandan settlers were then living, the reports added. The returnees have subsequently been living in difficult conditions in a water-logged camp, with poor sanitation and the threat of disease, where up to 42 deaths have been recorded - notably of malaria and cholera, according to humanitarian and media reports. The resettlement process began on 8 April following two logistical meetings between the prime minister's office and several humanitarian aid agencies which have pledged support for the resettlement, and would be completed soon, according to Owuor. "We are continuing with the exercise. We should complete it in the next one and a half or two weeks. Afterwards, we shall look into other longer-term facilities for the community, such as health centres and schools," Owuor told IRIN. The agencies involved in the resettlement programme include the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), the United States-based Samaritan's Purse, Oxfam, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), he said. WFP is giving each of the 700 families food to last three months, after which they are expected to harvest their first crop at their new location, according to a WFP official. Laura Melo, WFP spokeswoman for the eastern Africa, told IRIN on Wednesday that the agency, which had already distributed the first month's ration, intends to distribute a total of 150 mt of food to the returnees for the next three months. "We distributed food in January when they were still in Kikagati because they were in bad shape," she said. "We are now giving them food assistance for three months, as well as fuel, axes and utensils to help them resettle. Hopefully other organisations will provide further assistance for the resettlement." FAO has offered to supply the families with seeds and agricultural tools with which to cultivate their own crops in the new location, according to Owuor. The Ugandan government was forced to abandon earlier plans to resettle the group in Kakadi, Kibale District, southwestern Uganda, after the proposed Banyoro host community protested against the plans, he said. Kibale has recently been hit by ethnic violence as a result of growing resentment by ethnic Banyoro towards "outsiders", mainly Bakiga, whose numbers have gradually grown to exceed those of the locals, thereby affecting elections results and the power balance in the dirsticts, according to local political sources. The Banyoro have, therefore, refused to accept any more Bakiga. "They were not happy that settlers were taking an interest in politics and were taking over political positions in the area," Owuor told IRIN on Wednesday. The government-owned newspaper reported in early April that at least 200 people had fled Kakindo village in Kibale following an outbreak of violence between the Banyoro and Bakiga over land. Several houses had been burnt and banana plantations destroyed during the fighting, the report said. Uganda media also reported a heavy deployment of security forces in the district, following the clashes. The chairman-elect of Kibale District Council, Fred Ahaibwe Ruremera, on Wednesday stepped aside after the intervention of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who travelled to the district on Wednesday to address the situation, the New Vision reported on Thursday, 18 April. He has now brought the district under central government control until the appointment of a compromise candidate in an effort to reconcile differences between the Banyoro and other residents, it said. Museveni pledged to tackle the land issues that have been at the centre of conflict in the district while guaranteeing the legitimate rights of settlers there, according to the New Vision. He said nobody had a right to evict non-Banyoro people from Kibale and directed that ethnic killings should stop, it added. Baguma Isoke, Ugandan Minister of Lands and Member of Parliament for the Kibale area, told IRIN on 7 April that the conflict stemmed from the absence of a clear policy on resettlement in the country. "It all revolves around policy. The Kibale scenario would not have come up if there was such a policy," he said. According to Isoke, who is a member of the Banyoro community, the resettlement of "outsiders" in Kibale date back to the days under the British colonial administration, which "punished" the Banyoros which resisted its rule and "rewarded" neighbouring, collaborating communities with large tracts of land in the area. After independence, successive governments had also set up settlement schemes for various groups, but mainly the Bakiga, from overpopulated neighbouring districts like Kigezi and Kabale, Isoke added. The land clashes have prompted the Ugandan government to form a cabinet committee to deliberate the problem and make recommendations on ways of resolving it, according to Owuor. "The matter is being addressed at the highest possible level. The president went to Kibale to meet the local officials," he added.