More than 35,000 refugees who have fled to Uganda this year seeking safety from violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and 44 humanitarian partners are appealing for $47.8 million to respond to the critical needs of newly arrived refugees.
Uganda already hosts over 1.5 million refugees, the largest refugee population on the African continent.
While the 35,000 refugees who arrived this year constitute only a fraction of that number, their needs nonetheless are great.
UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov said a third of those have arrived in just the past three weeks from the DRC who had fled intense fighting in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Sporadic clashes in South Sudan’s West Nile state also have sent thousands fleeing into Uganda this year. Cheshirkov said a large proportion of the refugees this year, as in the past, are women and children.
Cheshirkov said the appeal is intended to support an initial emergency response to an anticipated influx of up to 60,000 refugees in Uganda in the first half of this year.
Cheshirkov added that the UNHCR is working with the government of Uganda and humanitarian partners to provide emergency assistance and protection to refugees in border areas.
He further said that efforts were being made to move them to refugee settlements as soon as possible.
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