Amid a stampede of Congolese citizens into her country, Ugandan Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Hillary Onek warned on Tuesday that they are running out of funds to take in migrants.
Without more funds, this country cannot afford facing the growing number of refugees, Onek told the The East African website after assuring that the international community has cut back financial assistance.
The news comes after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed that the number of Congolese people who have sought refuge in Uganda has increased over the past few months, after the attacks by armed militias on civilians in the eastern part of that country.
On Monday alone, some 13,000 Congolese refugees crossed the border through the Bunagana Road after fleeing attacks by extremist groups in the neighboring North Kivu province, Ugandan authorities reported. The president of the town of Bunagana, Abubaker Nikyenje, asked the central government for help and to consider the possibility of building temporary shelters to take in refugees.
Uganda is internationally renowned for its progressive refugee policy, described by the UNHCR as an assistance model based on development that other countries could emulate.
The recent number of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to nearly 1.6 million since January. Uganda has also taken in refugees from South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda.
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