New South Sudanese refugees incite violence in Lamwo Refugee Settlement

LAMWO – The new refugees arriving from South Sudan are on the spot for inciting violence in Lamwo settlement, according to the leaders within the camp.

The leaders say the new refugees have a habit to provoke the ones they found in the settlement on tribal and clan grounds, which goes against the laws of Uganda, the host country.

Some of the indisciplined refugees are also reported to be involved in looting food and raiding animals, which they take back to South Sudan.

South Sudanese refugees Chairperson John Pasquale, said some refugees have come along with their hatred as is the case back home, something he said is a setback sin e they are supposed to live in harmony.

“At the moment, we are engaging cultural heads, religious leaders, and  leaders among the refugees to help in ironing out the differences, especially the new refugees who are still used to the jungle laws,’’ he said

Tribal clashes, he said, were the order of the day in the settlements, but through mediations and the help of the Lamwo district local government, many refugees changed and they have embarked on livelihood initiatives in rebuilding their lives.

More than 75,000, South Sudanese refugees are settled in Lamwo district in the three settlements of Palabek- Kal, Palabek- Ogiri, and Palabek- Gem. They fled their home country following renewed fighting between SPLA and several militias in Imatong State in  2017.

At the moment, daily the district receives between 150-200, South Sudanese seeking refugee in Lamwo district.

Lamwo settlement has a total of 27, tribes out of 64 all from South Sudan.

“It’s not easy to know the character of each tribe but we are embracing the Ugandan law to establish harmony in the settlements,’’ Pasquale said.

Community Development Officer [CDO] Alfred Nyeko said development partners and district leaders have used the bottom-up approach to broker peace among the conflicting tribes, clans, or individuals in the refugee settlements.

Chiefs of different clans and tribes have been trained on the dos and don’ts when it comes to our laws in Uganda and they have been able to reach the grassroots in preaching the same, Nyeko said

“We have managed to restore sanity through empowering their leadership with skills in areas of mediation among themselves,’’ he added.

The Lamwo district LCV Chairperson,  Sisto Oyet said some of the refugees who break the Ugandan laws have had to be jailed so that they reform.

In 2020, more than 600, South Sudanese refugees were relocated to Lamwo Refugee Settlement from Parolinya Settlement in Obongi district, following tribal clashes in which hundreds of huts were torched and two lives lost.

There fighting was sparked off due to counter accusation of food theft from farmlands within the allocated plots in the settlement.

UNHCR’s report indicates that Uganda hosts more than 1.5 million South Sudanese refugees.

https://thecooperator.news/south-sudanese-refugees-establish-own-sacco/

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