Highlights
A total of 3,857 South Sudanese new arrivals have arrived in Uganda as of 12 May, lower than the 4,038 individuals received in the same period last month.
The new arrival trend increased in the last week of April following the return and swearing in of South Sudan vice president Riek Machar to the capital Juba and decreased in the first week of May, but largely remains the same compared to April. Majority of the 2016 new arrivals are children (72%) and women (19.5%).Mostly from eastern and central Equatorial with a few from Jonglei and Unity states, the new arrivals cite armed conflicts between rebel groups and government security forces in different parts of South Sudan, particularly, fear for reprisal attacks by rebels following the return of Riek Machar (first Vice President- formerly the rebel leader) to Juba.
U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Deborah R. Malac visited Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement and launched a USD$1,130,000 USAID-funded cross border peace building project called SALUHU (Swahili word meaning solutions) under the theme: ‘PARTNERSHIPS FOR PEACE – DIGNITY FOR ALL.’ Implemented by War Child Canada, the project targeting 35,000 South Sudanese and Uganda host youth, aims to promote cross border peace building through a three pronged approach of youth leadership training, community engagement and creating linkages with external actors, with an overarching capacity building focus. The technical and organizational capacity of two local organizations, one Ugandan (Children As Peace builders – CAP) and one South Sudanese (Upper Nile Youth Development Agency – UNYDA), will be built, allowing them to replicate the peacebuilding model used in this project. The project is being implemented in Adjumani, Arua, Koboko and Kiryandongo refugee settlements and surrounding Ugandan communities, along with IDP Camps in Malakal, Upper Nile in South Sudan. She was accompanied by state minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr. Musa Ecweru and the UNHCR Representative, Ms.
Warsame. The team also observed the just concluded verification exercise in Kiryandongo Settlement.
Operational Context
The OPM-led general verification exercise for refugees and asylum seekers in Kiryandongo was concluded on 3 May 2016 with 6,964 families comprising of 31,690 individuals verified. This is 60% of the planned population of 52,534 individuals. The exercise found that some households/individuals were registered more than once in the Kiryandongo RIMS database. Of these, only one record was kept active upon assessment of the desired one. For those individuals registered in two settlements, where the individual had already verified in another settlement, the record was closed in Kiryandongo. A total of 6,964 family attestations and 12,599 identity cards were issued to refugees aged 16 years and above, who have successfully completed the verification exercise.
In West Nile, UNHCR, OPM, together with Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Danish Refugee Council (DRC)), relocated a total of 4577 refugees from Nyumanzi Transit Centre and Ocea Reception Centre to settlements. There was no relocation exercise in the first week of May. The family plots in Maaji had filled up.
In Kiryandongo, a total 942 individuals (231 households) of new arrivals were received and accommodated at the reception center with a daily average of 85 persons. Some 768 individuals (159 households) were relocated by UNHCR, OPM, AIRD, IAU and WFP/Samaritan’s Purse International to Cluster B, which has decongested the reception center making room for fresh new arrivals. The relocated families were each given a plot of land for house construction and cultivation, construction materials (plastic sheets, poles and nylon ropes) and a kit of basic Core Relief Items.