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Thousands of Sudanese refugees displaced in Uganda and Chad - UN agency

Thousands of Sudanese refugees displaced in Uganda and Chad - UN agency

Sudanese refugees were on the move in two host countries, Chad and Uganda, today because of attacks from their enemies or the fear of such attacks, the United Nations refugee agency said.

More than 31,000 Sudanese refugees were displaced from their settlements in northern Uganda because of 30 raids in the last three months by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

The migration of refugees 30 kilometres north to other Sudanese settlements along the east shore of the Nile River, straining UNHCR's sanitation provisions and community services, such as schools and clinics, put their farming at risk since this is the start of the planting season, the agency said.

UNHCR, the Ugandan Government and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) counted 28,000 displaced refugees in Adjumani District, 2,500 in Moyo District and 1,000 in Arua District of Uganda, it said. Another 500 also reportedly crossed back into Sudan after fleeing their refugee settlements.

Since 6 May, UNHCR said, it has moved 52,444 refugees from the area of the Chadian border with Sudan to camps further inside Chad, while another 7,000 refugees had arrived at the camps on their own in their flight from Sudan's Janjaweed militia, which has committed massacres, rapes, looting and flattening of villages in the western Darfur region of Sudan.