AFRICA/South Sudan – Appeal from Bishop Yei: “Protection of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda from unlawful interference”

AFRICA/South Sudan – Appeal from Bishop Yei: “Protection of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda from unlawful interference”

Juba (Agenzia Fides) – “The international community, represented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, should take note of the politicians who go to the camps to deceive the refugees,” Monsignor Alex Lodiong, Bishop of Yei in South Sudan, denounced the call on the authorities in Kampala and international organizations to protect South Sudanese refugees hosted by Uganda from illegal interference. Specifically, Archbishop Ludiong refers to the visits of some South Sudanese politicians to refugee camps to try to sow discord and recruit fighters. “I would like to draw the attention of the Office of the Prime Minister, which is appointed by the Ugandan government to look after our refugees, and the international community represented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” Bishop Yei notes. If they see a politician or someone carrying weapons into these camps, they should be stopped and put in jail. We do not like that the militants go to confuse our people who have taken refuge in this place.

Archbishop Ludiong deplores the killing of some opposition leaders who fled abroad at the hands of rival groups. Therefore, he calls on the Ugandan government not to cooperate with the government of South Sudan by arresting opposition leaders who have taken refuge in his country. Some opponents were also tracked to the cities, arrested and killed. We hope that there will be no cooperation from the Ugandan government to allow these people to be arrested in this way; Let’s not hope so, because these people went to Uganda to save themselves,” he says.

Archbishop Ludiung made the appeal during his pastoral visit to the Palorinya refugee camp in Arua, which was established in December 2016 in Moyo District, in Uganda’s West Nile region. The camp currently hosts around 166,000 refugees from South Sudan in a total area of ​​more than 37 square kilometers and is currently closed to new refugees.
(LM) (Agenzia Fides 08/29/2022)

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