Netters,
Did Uganda not pay so dearly for having refugees take advantage of "assimilation and
accessing gainful employment".
Did UPC under Obote II not try to controll the free movement of refugees by requesting
the UNHCR to resettle the rwandese refugess and he was called all sorts of names...
Come on.....;I mean all these sound all too familiar for Uganda. I think these people
should think better than that. JUST STOP THE GOD DANMED REASONS FOR THERE TO BE
REFUGEES. STOP SPONSERING TERRORISM PERIOD.
It was criminal when Uganda trying to address this issue, now theyt are holding a
meeting about it in a place af all places...The Red Apple. P L E A S E! And the
concern....again af all places... Africa Mashariki...;
I think this issue should be squarely addressed. Refugess does not only apply to
Somali who are the least to adopt terrorism on Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania. May be
Somaliland. But that is a Somali issue because Al-Qaeda is featured in it; and America
is involved. The threat of refugees in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya is the
Rwanda-Burundi one, where Uganda is witnessing what they can do in subverting
Government of their host country and making it a stepping stone.
You Africa Masharikians, watch this one closely.
Read on----------
------------------------
Refugees: EA Could Become
a 'Terror Centre' Soon
By DAVID KAIZA
THE EASTAFRICAN
EAST AFRICA risks attracting terrorist attacks and becoming a theatre in the war
against terror unless its governments improve their handling of refugees, a group of
international human-rights lawyers have warned.
At a workshop held in Entebbe last week, lawyers pointed out that the failure by
governments to put more funds into the screening of non-combatant from combatant
asylum seekers was leading to terror cells developing in the region.
A group called Al-Itihaad is said to be recruiting and training fundamentalist Muslims
in parts of Kenya. Interviews conducted in camps among Somali refugees in Kenya raised
the possibility that the Al-Itihaad fighters were recruiting and training at the
Dadaab camp.
Researchers say that fundamentalists take advantage of the hands-off approach of the
governments of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania toward refugees. This, they warned, could
make the region, which experienced terrorist attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in
August 1998, even more vulnerable.
"Located strategically in a volatile and violent Greater Horn of Africa that is
characterised by weak and collapsing states, East Africa is poised to become a key
anchor in the anti-terrorist campaign," said Monica Kathina Juma, a researcher on
refugee affairs in Kenya working for the Centre for Refugee Studies.
The workshop was organised by the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
and was sponsored by the Stanley Foundation under the theme, "Refugee Protection in
Africa." It drew participants from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast,
Ethiopia, the United States and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
To avert a crisis, the workshop recommended that East Africa adopt, among others,
measures taken by West African states, which do not keep refugees confined to remote
camps but allow them to integrate into society and seek gainful employment.
"Studies have repeatedly shown that despite the availability of food aid and services
in places of encampment, people prefer freedom and the autonomy to decide and rebuild
their own lives," the workshop said, adding that government bureaucracies maintained
camps in order to attract funding from rich countries.
"To counter what some Somali refugees see as the machinations of America to punish
Somalis for their acts against the American-led UN campaign against Farah Aideed in
1993, Somali refugees have begun to conduct religious training that is akin to
Taliban-styled madrassa classes in refugee camps, allegedly in preparation for
defending Islam and Somali nationhood," Ms Juma said.
Kenya does not define itself as a refugee destination, but as a transit country, while
Tanzania, once seen as a haven, has since the Rwandese influx of 1994, cut back on its
refugee population.
At the same time, the countries do not have the capacity to monitor the movement of
asylum seekers across borders, making their borders and coastlines vulnerable to
trafficking.
"Sections of refugees are increasingly getting involved in legal as well as illegal
cross-border trade in narcotics, small arms and light weapons, contraband, mineral and
precious stones," Ms Juma said. "Criminal or terrorist networks can exploit these
legal and illegal conduits."
The workshop also pointed out that the war on terror was likely to lead to large
numbers of refugees from Sudan and the Horn of Africa, whom the region's governments
had no capacity to screen or feed.
It pointed out that the status of refugees in the region was at its lowest, resulting
in despondency and involvement in illegal activities.
Government officials at the workshop blamed cutbacks by donor nations for their
inability to deal effectively with refugee problems. Uganda Commissioner for Refugees
Carlos Twesigomwe said that it was impossible for governments to separate genuine
asylum seekers from armed combatants, a process he said was too costly.
Already, Western warships are patrolling the Horn of Africa in the hunt for fighters
of the Al Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks on New York and
Washington. Somalia has also been a target hunting for terrorists – the Al Barrakat
money transfer system suffered closure following suspicion that it was being used as a
conduit for terror funds.
By keeping them in remote camps where security cannot be guaranteed, Uganda's
controversial camps are dangerous places for refugees, some of whom escape to urban
centres. The camps are also located in places close to rebel activity in western and
northern Uganda.
It is genuine refugees, participants at the workshops said, who suffer the most.
Instead of trying to separate them from possible war criminals, governments were
turning their backs on them.
Comments\Views about this article
The Mulindwas communication group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
-----------------------------
He it is Who created for you all that is on earth...He is the All-knower of everything.
Swaddaq Allahu Al-Adhim.
Michael Bwambuga.
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