31,000 Congolese Asylum Seekers Cross into Kisoro District

31,000 Congolese asylum seekers have crossed into Kisoro District since the beginning of this year, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has said.   

The asylum seekers are fleeing to Kisoro from Rutshuru, Nyiragongo territories Goma city in North Kivu province, and other areas under occupation of the March 23 Movement (M23). According to Joseph Hepps, Deputy Representative at UNHCR in Uganda, the asylum seekers are mostly women and children.  

Hepps says that the affected asylum seekers account that they are fleeing sexual violence, torture and forced recruitment into armed fighting.  Hepps says that as a result, the Nyakabande transit centre is currently overwhelmed by numbers thus causing a crisis in water, sanitation, healthcare, nutrition support and relief items. 

//Cue in: “Nyakabande transit centre… 

Cue out: …this centre.”// 

Hajji Badru Ssebyalla, Kisoro Resident District Commissioner says that in March only, the district has received 6,000 asylum seekers. Ssebyalla says that the public especially along the border has already been cautioned against harboring the asylum seekers since they could be carrying illnesses or having intentions to destabilize Uganda.   

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo civilians have been affected by the resumption of the M23 insurgency since its resumption in 2022.  Rebels now control major areas of North and South Kivu provinces. 

Democratic Republic of Congo Congo government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting M23, a claim that both Rwanda and M23 deny. The rebels assert that their fight is against corruption, xenophobia and discrimination within the DR Congo's leadership.