South Sudanese refugees in Uganda receive generous welcome

When fighting broke out in December 2013^[1] in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, it spread rapidly toward the country’s north-east – directly towards John Aleu’s home. He wanted no part of the conflict and hoped the remoteness of his village in northern Jonglei state would insulate him.

But in September last year, a group of fighters came to steal his cattle. As he tried to spur the animals to flee, he was shot in the foot. It took his neighbours three days to carry him to the nearest hospital. His foot was saved, but he will never be able to walk without crutches again.

By April he was well enough to travel, so together with his family he journeyed across the border to Uganda. “If I’m going back, I can’t feed my family,” he said. “I’m in need of something that can promote my life and my family’s life.”^[2]

More than 150,000 South Sudanese have fled to Uganda since the fighting started, in part because the Ugandan government has one of the most generous refugee policies in the world. Once registered, new arrivals can move to permanent settlements – where they are given their own plot of land – rather than refugee camps. UN agencies provide food and resources to build a house. Schools and health centres are positioned nearby and refugees are encouraged to find jobs.^[3]

“They have all the rights that are attributed to any human being, irrespective of their status as refugees,” said Titus Jogo, the government’s refugee desk officer for Adjumani district in northern Uganda, where Aleu is now living.

It is all available to Aleu, but with one condition: he must abandon any ethnic animosity he still harbours.

Related: South Sudanese refugees struggle to adjust to life in Uganda – in pictures^[4]

South Sudan’s ongoing conflict grew out of a political dispute^[5] between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar. Aleu accused Machar’s supporters of introducing an ethnic dimension, pitting the former deputy’s Nuer tribe against Kiir’s Dinka group, of which Aleu is a member. He believes he was deliberately targeted by Nuer fighters. Machar’s supporters have made similar allegations. And the UN has reported ethnically targeted killings and rapes by both sides.

But Jogo said the Ugandan government will not tolerate any ethnically motivated violence. “We openly told them that we are receiving them as refugees from South Sudan^[6] in spite of their differences,” he said. “We want them to live together and forget whatever happened to them.”

It is really the only option, because the government does not have the logistical capacity to sort people into sites based on ethnicity. And it has worked well, Jogo said. “I would actually like to invite Kiir and Machar to come to Adjumani to see how well they can live together.”

The Alere resettlement site outside Adjumani, now more than two decades old, has been housing South Sudanese refugees longer than the country has existed. Members of more than a dozen South Sudanese tribes live in squat, circular mud huts that dot the hilly landscape.

Peter Mamer Ayom settled in Alere in 2012 after a series of cattle raids in his village outside Bor, the Jonglei state capital. He was recently appointed as a community development worker, which means he is responsible for circulating within the community and sorting out any conflicts that arise. He said the refugees – including 800 recent arrivals – take the mandate to avoid ethnic tensions seriously.

“We’re not thinking about all the fighting, which is happening from South Sudan,” he said. “We left all those things behind.” The only conflict he is concerned about is with the local community. There have been complaints from people living near the settlement sites that the South Sudanese are receiving unfair advantages.

Though he is from Uganda, Johnson Emerson worked at a restaurant in South Sudan. He fled along with the refugees when the war started – and though he has access to the same markets and health centres, he still believes they “should not be welcomed” unless local Ugandans are given all the same services.

A community meeting at the Alere resettlement site outside Adjumani town in north-western Uganda. Photograph: Will Boase

Despite some conflict between the two communities, Ayom said tensions have eased in recent months, allowing refugees to focus on building new lives – a process that diverts any energy they might spend on nursing grudges. While they are allowed to work, he said it is difficult to find jobs, which leaves refugees dependent on the monthly food rations distributed by the World Food Programme.

Alongside the refugees from South Sudan, WFP is also supporting people displaced from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At $5.5m (£357m) a month, it is the most expensive response in Uganda’s history according to acting country director Michael Dunford. In December, the agency was even briefly forced to cut rations when funding ran low, though Dunford said there is no current shortage.

But the WFP’s work looks set to increase. Fighting continues in South Sudan, and almost 5 million people are facing acute food insecurity, which would result in more refugees heading for the border. Both Dunford and Jogo said they were prepared to welcome anybody who wants to come.^[7]

References

1. ^{^} broke out in December 2013 (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^{^} Uganda (www.theguardian.com)
3. ^{^} fled to Uganda (www.theguardian.com)
4. ^{^} South Sudanese refugees struggle to adjust to life in Uganda – in pictures (www.theguardian.com)
5. ^{^} political dispute (www.theguardian.com)
6. ^{^} South Sudan (www.theguardian.com)
7. ^{^} facing acute food insecurity (www.theguardian.com)