By Alex Gahima
Municipal Authorities in Kisoro have said Burial space in the public cemetery is running out and are now proposing mass graves for their biggest client, the Nyakabande transit Camp.
In the last six months, a total of 40 people from the Nyakabande holding Camp died and were buried in the public cemetery.
Authorities working at Southern division headquarters confirmed the development.
They claim that the space at the public cemetery is quickly running out.
The public cemetery is where unclaimed corpses, dead animals like dogs are buried.
A source in the town clerk’s office, who preferred anonymity says at the public cemetery has two major challenges.
Bodies are buried in unmarked graves and sometimes when they come to bury other bodies, they excavate the ground and find fresh bodies.
The other challenge is the level of encroachment by human settlers around the cemetery.
The source says, several meetings with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kisoro (UNHCR), Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and camp managers; Care and Assistance for Forced Migrants (CAFOMI) about using mass graves has not yielded any results.
CAFOMI Team leader Sarah Abio says she is aware of the challenge of space at the public cemetery.
According to Abio, the idea of mass grave was presented before the relevant authorities and is still being discussed.
Abio says the deaths at the camp were unfortunate because the people often took long to report the issues that could have been managed expeditiously with medical support.
“Some of the people who died while at the camp suffered from conditions including Anemia, Respiratory tract infections, Brain tumors as well multiple Organ failure, Abio explained
Abio says all refugees have the right to a dignified life and burial adding that mass graves defeat that purpose.
She notes that people who have lost their loved ones might one day decide to repatriate the remains of the deceased persons and this needs to be respected.
Authorities at the Nyakabande transit camp have embarked on dislodging housing shelters at the holding camp, following a government directive to have all Congolese Asylum seekers, either relocated to settlement camps or move back to their home country by 31st of October 2022
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