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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 27 december 2016

Fleeing war, South Sudanese create booming camps in Uganda

JUSTIN LYNCH
Associated Press
BIDI BIDI CAMP, Uganda
(AP) — “I don’t want to
go back,” James Issac de-
clared, just minutes after
becoming a refugee. “I
don’t want to die.”
For two days, the slender
30-year-old from South
Sudan’s Equatoria region
navigated his way out of
civil war, riding a motor-
cycle along dirt roads and
avoiding government sol-
diers who, according to
accounts by refugees to
The Associated Press, have
taken aim at civilians.
In his last steps on South Su-
danese soil, Issac passed a
group of rag-tag rebel sol-
diers and crossed a rickety
bridge into Uganda, and
safety.
“I am happy,” he said, as
Ugandan soldiers searched
his belongings for con-
traband. “There (are) no
problems here.”
He is one of 440,000 refu- In this Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016 photo, a group of children and adults gather around a bore-hole in the Bidi bidi refugee settlement
gees who have fled South in Bidi bidi, Uganda.
Sudan’s spiraling con- Associated Press
flict into Uganda this year Those fleeing have turned the Ugandan government. and heard stories of gov- refugee agency.
alone, creating some of Uganda’s northwest from Roughly 20 percent of ernment soldiers killing, rap- “Many Ugandans them-
the world’s largest refugee an empty bushland into a those under 5 years old are ing and arresting civilians selves have previously
camps in just six months’ sprawling complex of refu- severely malnourished, she based on their ethnicity. been refugees, and you
time. gee settlements. The larg- said. Most of the refugees Some civilians also said that typically hear expressions
More than one million refu- est, Bidi Bidi, is a pop-up city are women and children. rebel soldiers would take of solidarity from the Ugan-
gees have fled South Su- that holds roughly 260,000 When the refugees arrive money or phones from dan people,” Yaxley said.
dan, spilling across borders people weary of war. Last in settlements set up by the people fleeing to Uganda. Maliki Drakuma is one of
in East Africa as the inter- week the U.N. announced U.N, some like 18-year-old “There are so many people them. The town clerk of the
national community warns the Bidi Bidi camp had Harriet Guo are alone and who are shot dead by un- local Yumbe government
that the conflict and its eth- stopped taking new arriv- must fend for themselves. known gunmen, and when and the owner of a mobile
nic violence could destabi- als because it was full, and The refugees are given sup- you are arrested by armed phone store near the refu-
lize the region. it directed South Sudanese plies to build shelters and personnel your where- gee settlements, he said
Since fighting erupted in to nearby locations. must set them up them- abouts cannot be found,” the sudden influx of South
South Sudan’s capital, The refugees “were in criti- selves. Like others in the said Taban Jackson, a Sudanese has brought
Juba, in July and left a cal condition. Bullets re- camp, Guo tells stories of community leader in the economic development to
peace agreement in tat- maining in their legs. Oth- brutal violence that forced Bidi Bidi camp and a former the barren region.
ters, the world’s youngest ers had come with parts her to flee South Sudan. municipal official in Yei. He acknowledged that
country has experienced amputated. Others were “There is war there, and Unlike other countries in the some services have been
ethnic cleansing and tee- severely bleeding,” re- here there is peace,” she region, Uganda has em- stressed by the sudden
ters on the brink of geno- called Rufaaaya Asiyati, a said. Many of the refugees braced the refugees, ac- flow of refugees, and po-
cide, according to the nutrition specialist working come from Yei, where the cording to Charlie Yaxley, lice now carry out more
United Nations. at the border crossing for AP visited in November a spokesman for the U.N. patrols.q