Rhino Camp Clash leaves at least 15 Refugees Dead and more than 3000 Other Displaced from the Camp

By Gaaniko Samson Jerry

 At least 15 South Sudanese refugees from Rhino Camp Settlement in Northern Uganda recently lost their lives, while more than 3000 others got displaced from the settlement during a clash between the refugees and the host communities. The refugees now want to be relocated from Rhino camp citing that they are tired of losing their relatives.

 The refugees have presented a petition to UNHCR and the Office of Prime Minister in Uganda seeking for immediate relocation for safety reasons.

 According to a South Sudanese refugee identified only as James, in June 2018, there was a conflict between the Dinka and Nuer tribes at the camp, as such the local host communities demanded that these refugees be removed from their land as they were defiling it with war.

 “Following that incident, the police intervened and some people were arrested and taken to Arua Central police where some were charged. From that moment, the local host communities started blaming refugees for bringing problems to the land,” James explained adding that the members of the local host communities stated that the fighting among refugees in their localities was affecting and that they didn’t want them in their land anymore.

 Rev William James, a pastor at Rhino Camp said that the relationships between the local host communities and the refugees have become hostile resulting in recurring fights between the two groups and this needs to be urgently resolved.

 He feels that if the refugees are relocated somewhere far from the local host communities, such issues of fighting will be resolved.

 “The more these two groups continue staying together, the likeliest that conflict between them will persist,” he cautioned.

 These sentiments are shared by Elizabeth Hellen, one of the refugees who lost her relatives during the recent conflict. She said that conflicts often arise due to cultural differences among the refugees and the local host communities. She hopes that UNHCR together with the Ugandan government can identify some free land and move the refugees further from the local host communities.

She implored the Ugandan government to listen to the cry of the suffering refugees saying it was them who allowed the UN agency to determine the place for the settlement of the refugees.

 Another refugee, David Ton who was among the people who went to seek the interventions of UNHCR and the Office of Prime Minister (OPM) echoed the sentiments of his fellow refugees, it is paramount that UNHCR and OPM do what they can to separate refugees from the host communities for peace to prevail.

 However, according to Mr. Solomon Oskana, the Refugees Desk officer at the Department of Refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister at Arua, there is no money to relocate the refugees to another settlement. He however said that they are going to do sensitize the two groups on peaceful coexistence. He said they are planning to hold numerous meetings with the landlords and the refugees’ leaders in a bid to resolve the issues.

 So far, the police have arrested 28 suspects who are currently detained at Arua central police station as more investigations are still going on.