By Sabir Musa
Office of the Prime Minister in West Nile says that there is still enough land to host more refugees, despite the huge influx from neighboring countries resulting from the ongoing conflicts. The Refugee Desk Officer in Office of the Prime Minister Solomon Osakan told Radio Pacis that, districts in the region continue to offer more lands to manage the influx of refugees. “In fact there’s a land we were offered in Madi Okollo, we have not even used it with a capacity to absorbing 95 thousand people. And there is another land that was given to us in Kwiyucwiny sub country (Nebbi district) could also absorb about 60 thousand people and recently Terego District also promised another land” Osakan reveals.

The State Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Esther Anyakun affirms government’s readiness to host more refugees as it also focuses on security in the country. “That’s not a challenge because it has been a habit that Uganda gave to neighbors to be able to have Uganda as a home. We do two types of screening; at office and security screening to be able to know what kind of people are settling in different settlements” she says. 

The United Nations Country Representative in Uganda Joel Boutroue commends country’s refugee policy which enables peaceful environment.
Uganda is currently hosting more than 1.5 million refugees mainly from South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo according to a data compiled by United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Office of the Prime Minister as of December 2021.