UN refugee agency opens new site in Uganda to host refugees from South Sudan

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has opened a new settlement area in northern Uganda to host thousands of refugees arriving from South Sudan, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Thursday.

"The new settlement was opened after another settlement opened in December 2016 quickly reached its capacity," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

The new settlement is expected to be able to accommodate up to 110,000 new arrivals in the weeks and months ahead, he said.

South Sudan is now Africa's largest refugee crisis and the world's third largest, only behind Syria and Afghanistan.

Uganda has started to feel the pinch of hosting an influx of refugees amid acute funding pressures and says international support is urgently needed to help it accommodate the refugees.

Uganda is hosting over one million refugees, half of them from neighboring South Sudan where fighting is still continuing. On average 4,000 South Sudanese are said to cross the border daily into Uganda.

The East African country has gained global acknowledgment for its open refugee policy at a time when more and more countries are closing their doors to refugees who are fleeing for their lives.

The other refugees hosted in different parts of the country are mainly from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi while some are from Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The World Food Program last year warned that it was going to be forced to cut food aid to refugees in the country further than the current 50 percent due to severe funding shortages.

Uganda, whose refugee resettlement process is said to be a model for other nations, now hosts one of the largest number of refugees in Africa, putting a significant burden on relief agencies, Ugandan authorities and local population. Endit