UNHCR says no evidence of killing in refugee camp

There is no evidence to support claims that a number of Sudanese refugees were killed during a police raid last week on Kiryandongo refugee camp, western Uganda, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Monday. "We went into the settlement and as far as we can tell there is nothing which could confirm the rumours that anyone has been killed in Kiryandongo," Steven Gonah, UNHCR’s senior protection officer, told IRIN. "We heard stories to that effect but no one making the accusations has managed to give us any details so far - no names, ages, relatives or where they might be buried." In the early hours of 1 September, local police started forcibly loading Kiryandongo’s 16,000 refugees onto trucks bound for relocation to refugee camps further north in Uganda’s West Nile district. The refugees protested against the move saying they feared an attack by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, which operates there. The Kampala-based Refugee Law Project (RLP) maintains that a number of people were killed during the operation. "We've spoken to many refugees from inside the camp who told us the same things - about seven or so people dying in these ways. They show remarkable consistency," Immanuel Bagyenda, an RLP official, told IRIN. RLP added that it condemned the forcible relocation of the refugees, saying it was in breach of international law and "a grievous example of poor refugee management". The refugees were originally moved to Kiryandongo after they were attacked by the LRA in Acholi Pii, Kitgum district, three years ago. But the camp is extremely overcrowded, and it was decided to move the refugees further north to Madiokollo and Ikafi camps, in West Nile district. By Monday all of the 16,000 refugees had been transferred, UNHCR's regional information officer Kitty McKinsey told IRIN. Local government sources told IRIN that part of the reason West Nile was chosen was to attract aid money to the region.