Kisoro screens refugees  amid gun smuggling fears

The Kisoro District security committee has beefed up security at the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to stop the smuggling of illegal items, including guns, into Uganda.
This comes as hundreds of Congolese refugees keep crisscrossing the border, claiming they are looking for food in Uganda, which is scarce in their area because of the fighting between the M23 rebels and the Congolese government.
Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Shafiq Ssekandi said some wrong elements disguise as refugees and smuggle different merchandise as well as guns into the country.

Justification
“The district security committee has recommended that the border security officials at Bunagana and Busanza form adhoc security committees to screen all foreigners that have started crossing back into Uganda under the cover of looking for food to avoid the smuggling of illegal items such as ammunition into the country that can in turn threaten the security of local residents,” Mr Ssekandi, who doubles as the chairperson of the district security committee, said at the weekend.

He explained that the Kinshasa government has no control of the border areas close to Uganda, which were captured by the M23 rebels.
“In June, security officials recovered four illegal guns in Kabaya and Bunagana areas in Kisoro District where the Congolese refugees were camping. The security operatives are still investigating the reasons why such illegal guns existed in refugee communities,” he said.
“This is the reason we are emphasising thorough screening of Congolese nationals that cross into Uganda from the troubled North Kivu Province,” Mr Ssekandi added.

The chairperson of Bunagana Main Village in Bunagana Town Council, Mr Bubakare Nikwegye, said prices of food items are increasing in the area.
“The prices of food items have increased because there is no food production on the Democratic Republic of Congo side due to the armed conflict that started in March this year,” he said in an interview.
He said one kilogramme of beans now costs Shs9,000, up from Shs,4000, while that of posho costs Shs4,000, up from Shs2,500. A bunch of matooke is now sold at Shs40,000 from Shs25,000.
“Congolese nationals are the one that come to purchase these food items and they are the reason why the prices have increased,” Mr Nikwegye said.

Background
The government effective October 31 closed Nyakabande refugee holding centre with a view to transferring all refugees to settlement camps in western Uganda. However, most of the refugees have refused to go to camps, hoping against hope that the security situation in DRC will ease.