The European Union announced this Friday the disbursement of an additional four million euros to Uganda to help manage the flow of refugees to the country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, given the upsurge in violence in this country.
The funds will also be used to combat food insecurity in the Karamoja region, the European Commission said in a statement. “Continued insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has led to an increase in the number of refugees arriving in neighboring Uganda, which already hosts the largest refugee community in Africa,” said the Commissioner for Crisis Management. Janez Lenarcic.
The Slovenian commissioner has indicated that the funds will serve to support humanitarian partners in the region to tackle the most urgent needs, among others, to welcome new displaced people.
“Furthermore, the funds will help Uganda rapidly address deteriorating food security in the Karamoja region, where half a million people are in an emergency situation,” he said.
This summer the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of new armed clashes between combatants of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in the North Kivu region, causing new waves of displacement.
To this is added the attacks against the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) by armed groups, which resulted in three deaths, and the protests of the local population against MONUSCO, repressed with violence , registering two deaths and a dozen wounded at the end of July.
MONUSCO has been stationed in the northeast of the Congo for more than 20 years, in an attempt to shore up peace in the country in the face of the presence of some 130 different armed groups that are vying for control of the vast natural wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which They include copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds.
