Rights group calls on rich countries to help South Sudanese refugees

Juba, June 19, 2017 (SSNA) — The London-based Amnesty International said rich countries are failing South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda, according to a report obtained by the South Sudan News Agency.

The document also blames major economies for not doing enough to help Uganda deal with refugees crisis and rebuffs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) call for elections to be held in South Sudan.

“Yet despite Uganda’s laudable efforts to host and support refugees, and despite the fact that refugees from South Sudan continue to arrive in large numbers, the international community has failed to support Uganda and its refugees,” Amnesty International said in the report,” adding, “Uganda, and the refugees of South Sudan, have become the latest victims of a collective and shameful failure of international cooperation.”

The report praises Uganda, saying, its policy towards South Sudanese refugees is welcoming.

The document, however, criticizes the East African regional bloc, IGAD, for failing to come up with a good strategy to end the ongoing civil war and for calling for elections to be held in the war-torn young nation, saying that South Sudan’s current political environment does not suit for elections and that such a move could further destabilize the country.

“IGAD has called for the ARCSS to be implemented, but without presenting a strategy to address the fracturing of one of the key parties to it and the resulting legitimacy gap of the current TGONU. IGAD has also called for elections to be held in South Sudan. However, in the current political climate, elections could risk further inflaming violence. Given the political stalemate, there is little hope that the conflict and its associated hostilities will end anytime soon,” the report further added.

Early this month, UN accused IGAD member states of taking sides on South Sudan’s armed conflict, allowing the war to continue.

Muthoni Wanyeki, the Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa said the United States, Canada, China, European Union, and Japan must help Uganda by stepping up their financial commitment.

There are at least 900,000 South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, according to recent United Nations estimates.