Refugees from South Sudan wait to be settled outside the Khour Al-Waral refugee camp in Al-Salam locality, some 69-kilometers south of Rebek, capital of White Nile State, Sudan, May 18, 2017. The Khour Al-Waral refugee camp accommodated 50,000 refugees. The majority of them are from Upper Nile State of South Sudan on the border with Sudan. (Xinhua/Mohamed Babiker)
by Ronald Ssekandi, Samuel Egadu
KAMPALA, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Countries and donor agencies at an international refugee summit in Uganda on Friday pledged 358 million U.S. dollars to cater for the over 1.2 million refugees in Uganda.
The European Union, the United States, China, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank are among those that pledged to raise the funds at the Solidarity Summit convened by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"I thank all the countries which have contributed. You have really saved lives. These poor people will perish if they don't get support," said Museveni.
"We shall continue to open our doors for these children and women from our neighbors," he added.
Guterres called for increased humanitarian and development assistance to Uganda to address the refugee crisis.
"International solidarity with Uganda is not a matter of generosity, it's a matter of justice," said Guterres.
Uganda is now Africa's leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest now, after Turkey and Pakistan.
UN figures show that the country hosts more than 1.2 million refugees from neighboring South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda among others. Of these, more than 900,000 are from South Sudan.
Relief agencies say such numbers are placing excessive pressure on state and host community resources, especially social services like health and education.
Uganda and the UN hope to raise 8 billion dollars to cater for refugees in the East African country over the next four years.
OPEN DOOR REFUGEE POLICY
Uganda was hailed for its open door refugee policy. Those entering as refugee are given a piece of land to cultivate and those who have skills and capital are allowed to work.
"I have seen Uganda's borders open, I have seen the hearts of the Ugandan people open. But not all doors are open in the world. Not all refugees are accepted, some are rejected, and sometimes in countries much richer than Uganda," said Guterres.
"It is absolutely essential to recognize this enormous effort and not to let Ugandan people down," he said.
Other speakers at the summit, including the officials from Zambia, Somalia and Gabon, also applauded Uganda for its gesture, noting that they are ready to share experiences in hosting refugees.
Gabonese President Ali Bongo called for the creation of a fund to help handle issues regarding refugees.
Experts warn that Uganda's refugee policy may fail if the huge influx continues coupled with limited funding to the survival of the refugees.
