Refugees of Uganda
The vast influx of refugees is due to several factors in Uganda's neighboring countries, especially war and violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[4] and associated economic crisis and political instability in the region.
[10] The region of the DR Congo bordering Uganda is the place of origin for the vast majority of Congolese refugees.
[10] The massive influx of refugees is largely caused by the persistent violence and fighting that has dominated the DR Congo.
[10] The presence of refugees in Uganda has had a positive influence on the rates of consumption and access to private education in the communities that host them.
[14] Armed groups from the Congolese Babembe, Bafuliru, and Banyindu communities are fighting with the Rwandan Banyamulenge, as Rwanda borders the Kivu region.
[18] Since September 2018, the Lendus have carried out an increasing amount of violent attacks against the Hemas, with crimes ranging from killings, rapings, and destruction of crucial facilities.
[19] During the summer of 2019, President Felix Tshisekedi of the DR Congo condemned the inter-ethnic group violence as attempted genocide.
[20] In January 2020, the United Nations released a report declaring the ethnic violence in the Ituri province to be crimes against humanity.
[25] In fact, the country's government has made welcoming and caring for refugees an important part of its national policy.
For example, many refugees live in camps or settlements with incredibly high population density and limited access to basic services.
Refugees in camps and settlements also encounter difficulties in accessing reliable and accurate information due to a variety of barriers.
[34] In late March 2020, the Ugandan government announced that it would formally suspend the acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers into the country as the number of confirmed cases increased.
[36] Ugandan authorities have recently found it difficult to ensure that refugees are complying with the health and safety guidelines implemented by the government in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Musu Ecweru, Uganda's State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, explains that this lack of compliance may be due to the fact that many refugees come from countries where the governments are not trusted; as such, submitting to authority is unusual and difficult.
