The Kisoro district LCV chairperson Abel Bizimana has criticized the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for their passerby attitude, when it comes to dealing with militarized insurgences on the African Continent, especially in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Camp sources reveal that, a cumulative total number of Congolese Asylum seekers who fled their country into Uganda via the Bunagana border, Kisoro district, since the 28th of March, 2022, stands at 36,420 individuals of 18,643 households.
A total of 9,290 Congolese at the transit camp in Nyakabande voluntarily agreed to be relocated further in-land into settlement camps of Nakivale and Kyaka.
However majority of the Congolese in Kisoro remain adamant to leave host communities bordering with Eastern DRC, hoping and dreaming, that one day, they too might return home.
It is nearly four months now since the Asylum seekers fled into Uganda.
Despite Government efforts to have them move to a designated area some 12kms away from the border, many have insisted on hanging around people’s homes and places of business in Bunagana town council, Muramba, Nyarubuye, Rukundo town council and Nyarusiza Sub Counties, literally scavenging for food, shelter and odd jobs to do.
This prolonged, unsought situation in Kisoro host communities has left a bitter taste among locals who have expressed being fatigued by the insatiable needs of their brothers and sisters from across the border.
While addressing a delegation of IGAD representatives at the Kisoro district Council hall in Kisoro Municipality, the Kisoro district LCV chairperson Abel Bizimana accused IGAD and other regional bodies of posturing instead of finding African solutions to African problems.
Bizimana further threatened to lead his voters among the host communities into a revolt in the coming weeks, if IGAD and other humanitarian agencies operating in the area do not devise means of moving all asylum seekers into the camp and out of the communities.
“With all these regional blocs and Organizations in Africa, we have failed to stop a small rebel group like M23. We are masqueraders and pretenders but this needs to stop if we are to realize the kind of Africa we desire, Bizimana lamented
IGAD Delegation head, who also doubles as the Commissioner for Refugees Musa Ali says the regional bloc is going to improve its management of refugee and humanitarian affairs on the African continent.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa. Its headquarters are found in Djibouti, Djibouti
Its mission is to assist and complement the efforts of the member States to achieve increased cooperation: food security and environmental protection, peace and security, and economic cooperation and integration in the region.
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