Uganda has sent security troops to its north-west region where tensions are on the rise following deadly attacks on refugees by local people. More than 10 South Sudanese refugees were killed, including a teenage girl and a 25-year-old woman and her baby, and 19 others were seriously wounded in clashes at a water point in Madi-Okollo district last week. Fifteen homes were burnt to the ground and another 26 are confirmed to have been looted and vandalised. The violence erupted in response to the alleged murder of an 18-year-old Ugandan cattle herder, which local men blamed on the refugees. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has called on the Ugandan government to search for about 10 refugees who remain missing. Jean-Christophe Saint-Esteben, of the Danish Refugee Council in Uganda, said the conflict was uncommon: “We do see conflicts in refugee settlements occurring between different ethnic groups of refugees, and between refugees and the Ugandan host community, but actually the majority of conflict occurs within households, as domestic violence, so this tragic incident is definitely unusual.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN