NAIROBI, 12 February (IRIN) - 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.
[ENDS]
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003