By Arsene Arakaza
In the Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda, some refugees have just spent a month without any assistance from the Ugandan High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) agency to get food. The refugees are demanding that they be served urgently so as not to starve.
UNHCR and its partners are working with bank branches operating inside Kyangwali camp. The responsibility of these banks is to make monetary transactions for refugees to buy their food needs. Some of the refugees who should be served by the Equity Bank are those who have been in desolation for a month without receiving any assistance.
Untenable situation…
The delay in providing assistance increases the vulnerability of the refugees who depend solely on this offer for their daily survival. The refugees say they have already incurred debts to local traders who risk imprisoning them as they have already exceeded an agreed payment deadline.
In fact, the fees for assistance were already insufficient, nineteen thousand shillings each individual receives is far from covering their basic needs on a monthly basis. ” Now we don’t know where to turn, we have nothing to eat, our children cry all day long,” said one parent.
The refugees in Kyangwali camp are calling on UNHCR to intervene without delay to assist refugees who are at risk of starvation and to change bank branches whose organizational deficiencies are also causing delays in the distribution of food assistance.
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