Uganda is worried that a rising tide of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could give easy access for foreign rebels looking to launch attacks in the east African country, the military announced last weekend.
The Uganda Red Cross Society said up to 70,000 Congolese refugees have so far crossed into Uganda since the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) started attacking the eastern DRC town of Kamangu last week.
Paddy Ankunda, a Ugandan military spokesman, said the enormous Congolese influx had troubling security implications for the country’s western region, as ADF rebels may use the opportunity to sneak in as refugees.
“You can’t be sure of the identity of each and every individual refugee and also the increasing volatility of the security situation right across the border worries us. Kamangu is only about 10 km (6 miles) from the border,” he said.
“No doubt we’ve stepped up our security deployments along the border because we certainly can’t pretend that everything is okay, but for now we’re only monitoring events across the border. We haven’t sent a single soldier into Congo.”
Uganda has said the build-up of the ADF, which was active against Kampala in the late 1990s from its bases in the Ruwenzori Mountains, could now threaten its Lake Albert region, where huge oil reserves estimated at 3.5 billion barrels have been recently discovered, with production expected to commence soon.
The military is further concerned that the al Qaeda-linked ADF have acquired skills from Somalia’s al Shabaab militant group which might now be used in Uganda.
Meanwhile, the number of Congolese refugees continues to grow by the day.
“They’re camped at four primary schools and WFP [United Nations World Food Programme] has provided some food and (we) have also provided household items,” Catherine Ntabadde of the Uganda Red Cross explained.
