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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990113_feat2.html
800 Congo Refugees Still Missing
January 13, 1999
Kampala - Over 800 registered Congolese refugees are still missing after Ugandan
security forces reportedly tried to forcefully repatriate them, the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees said yesterday.
The UNHCR Public Information Officer here, Ms Tomoko Niino, said yesterday, "We had registered 2,930 refugees, and while we were organising to transfer them to a settlement in Kyangwali, Hoima, the local security forces were forcing them back, and they got scattered in the process. We cannot locate them. We believe they could have been forced back and others scattered within Uganda."
She said since the security agencies interfered with the resettlement process, the UNHCR has managed to locate and transfer 2,100 out of the 2,930 registered refugees to Kyangwali settlement in Kisoro. The UPDF in Kisoro on December 31 reportedly blocked the transfer and resettlement of refugees at Kyangwali and tried to forcefully drive them back to Congo.
The UNHCR condemned the forceful repatriation of the mainly ethnic Congolese Hutu refugees, most of them women and children. It expressed concern over their fate saying the expulsion was "a breach of international law." The refugees are reportedly fleeing Kavangi, Kabonero and Munamira in Jombo, eastern Congo, after clashes with gun and panga wielding Interahamwe militiamen.
The Third Deputy Premier and Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Mr. Paul Etiang, had earlier written to the UNHCR, saying the fleeing Congolese were "prima facie" recognised refugees, after registration. He ordered their transfer to Kyangwali refugee settlement in Hoima.
The local administration and security agencies reportedly demanded that the refugees be screened, for security reasons. Tomoko yesterday said the local authorities do not have the mandate to stop refugees from moving in and lack the expertise to screen them.
She said it is only the central government that can discuss this issue with the UNHCR. There was no comment from the Government, as Etiang was reported up -country.
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