Not less than 50,000 Congolese from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have fled to Uganda since the beginning of the year and a report by Simone Schindvein reveals many had been through boat.
Lake Albert lies along the borther of the two countries and it is very smooth. The waves lap gently against the shore and so about 500 people are found crossing it through boat to land at Sebaguru in Uganda.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have set up tents on the beach with the help of Ugandan government to take care of the refugees who are arriving from DRC.
Most of the refugees arriving at the tents on Sebaguru beach are women and chidren, said UNHCR’s Daniel Tam.
He added, “Most of them are traumatized by what they have seen or experienced.”
However, there are risks of boat getting overloaded and very few refugees know how to swim. Very lately the Uganda’s border police rescued such boat in which one family arrived witth 27 cows.
Tam said, “The cows all drowned, but luckily the five people were rescued.”
Apart from women and children many young men too have crossed the river in last few days and it is unusual that most of them were either recruited by militias or else protect their villages by being a member of the civil defense units.
The Congolese nationals have been taking refuge on the banks of Lake Albert for more than a decade but with the start of 2018 their arrival have increased dramatically.