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Forced to flee

By Innocent Niyonzima and Leizl Eykelhof

Representatives from various NGOs run ‘sensitisation’ sessions with asylum seekers on arrival, explaining the rules and procedures of the transit centre. About 2,600 refugees arrive daily in a centre meant to accommodate 825 adults. Photo: Innocent Niyonzima/ForAfrika

For those escaping violence and displacement, the journey to safety is filled with uncertainty. In Uganda, however, a progressive refugee policy offers asylum seekers a chance to rebuild their lives with access to land, work, and essential services.

“I came here hoping to find my family,” says Jean Paul Iragi, who fled Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the middle of the night. He arrived in Kisoro, Uganda, days later, exhausted and alone.

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“Many people were killed where I was. The bodies were everywhere. The smell was terrible. The fighters kept chasing us. There were bombs and gunshots, so we kept running. I have a wife and two children, but we were separated as we ran. I thought I would find them here, but I haven’t seen them yet.”

- Jean Paul Iragi

“Many people were killed where I was. The bodies were everywhere. The smell was terrible. The fighters kept chasing us. There were bombs and gunshots, so we kept running. I have a wife and two children, but we were separated as we ran. I thought I would find them here, but I haven’t seen them yet,” he says, voice trembling.

Ombeni Sebudurumba, a schoolteacher, tells a similar story of terror and escape. When inmates from Munzeze Prison were released and began looting and attacking people in the neighbourhoods, she had no choice but to flee with her two small children.

“Whenever a mouse crossed the floor, I would wake up in fear. I would check for danger, and I wouldn’t sleep again. There was no peace. That’s when I took my kids and left,” she recalls.

Iragi and Sebudurumba escaped the horrors of a rebel insurgency in the eastern DRC that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Conflict in the DRC

For over three decades, the DRC has been locked in conflict, with more than 100 armed groups vying for control of the nation’s vast mineral wealth. The country is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and a key supplier of copper, coltan, gold, and diamonds.

Recently, the M23 rebel group has seized major cities such as Goma and Bukavu, with their sights set on the capital of Kinshasa. Since January, at least 7,000 people have been killed, and UN agencies warn of an escalating humanitarian disaster.

Analysts fear a repeat of the Second Congo War—also known as Africa’s World War—which devastated the region and claimed millions of lives from fighting, starvation and disease.

In congested conditions, with few resources, infections spread easily, endangering both refugees and the host community. Aphia Nyiraribora is a ForAfrika employee based at the Nyakabande Transit Centre. She runs water, sanitation and hygiene programmes and helps to keep the facilities clean to prevent the spread of disease. Photo: Innocent Niyonzima/ForAfrika

Assisting asylum seekers

Over a million people from the DRC have had little option but to flee to neighbouring countries like Uganda, Burundi and Angola since the early 2000s.

Many are forced to leave their homes with only essential belongings. Sebudurumba took some clothes and a mattress, using a taxi to take her and her children to the Bunagana border. From there, they were transported to the Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro.

“Refugees arrive at the Nyakabande reception centre, where they are registered, receive core relief items like blankets, sleeping mats, soap, jerry cans, basins, and sanitary materials for women. They are also provided with meals,” explains Frank Walusimbi from UNHCR in Uganda.

Since 2022, ForAfrika has assisted asylum seekers at the centre with registration, organising water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions, and preparing them for their new lives.

Aphia Nyiraribora, ForAfrika’s WASH assistant in Kisoro, says she has noticed a steep increase in the influx of refugees since January.

“The situation is worsening because numbers are increasing on a daily basis,” she says. “The transit centre is meant to accommodate about 800 adults, but we are receiving about 2,600 every day at the moment. I am dedicating my efforts to keeping the holding centre clean, ensuring that washrooms, shelters, toilets, and garbage bins are well maintained.”

Walusimbi explains that WASH is imperative in a transit centre because with so many people sharing limited facilities, diseases can spread very quickly.

Security is also a concern. Authorities work to protect both asylum seekers and local communities while maintaining health protocols and ensuring safe transit to more permanent settlements.

Many refugees find the various restrictions difficult. “We have been given water and food, but we are not allowed to move out of the camp. When we want to get something from outside, we are chased back in,” says Iragi.

“They are suffering as though they have committed a crime,” adds radio host Bosco Nkunda of Kisoro FM. “They are sleeping in a congested area, children are malnourished, and they are out of school. People are struggling.”

Uganda’s progressive refugee policy

Despite these challenges, Uganda provides refugees something rare: an opportunity for self-reliance.

“After three days at Nyakabande, asylum seekers are usually relocated to refugee settlements in southwestern Uganda,” says Walusimbi.

Refugees housed at the Nyakabande Transit Centre are given essentials such as food, water, blankets, and hygiene products. The stay is temporary, about 72 hours, before they are transported to settlements in southwestern Uganda, where they receive a parcel of land and can enjoy freedom of movement. Photo: Innocent Niyonzima/ForAfrika

From Nyakabande, refugees are taken by bus to Nakivale—one of the oldest refugee settlements in Africa. Here they are given a plot of land to farm and build shelters. They also enjoy freedom of movement and have access to basic services, and the opportunity to seek work.

Nyiraribora helps coordinate the relocation process, ensuring refugees board buses with the correct documentation and supplies for their journey.

ForAfrika is active in various refugee settlements in Uganda, running communal agriculture projects and money-saving groups that benefit both refugees and the host community in a bid to ensure peaceful coexistence.

Sebudurumba sees Uganda as a chance to make a life for herself and her children. “What would I look for in war-torn Congo? If I have a job, I can stay. It would help me if I could teach other children while providing for my own. If I don’t get a job, it will be very difficult.”

Iragi, however, cannot think about a new life yet. “I need to find my family,” he says, worry lining his face. He holds onto the hope that somehow, they too have been registered and that humanitarian workers will be able to help them find each other.

Refugees are assisted onto buses headed for Nakivale, one of the oldest refugee settlements in Africa. Uganda is known for its progressive refugee policy which has cared for asylum seekers since the Second World War. The country hosts the most refugees in Africa—about 1.7 million from countries such as South Sudan, DRC and Sudan. Photo: Innocent Niyonzima/ForAfrika

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© 2025 | For Afrika to Thrive (Registration Number: 2010/025117/10) is a multi-national public charity with a global reach. We have affiliate offices in:
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