Over 5,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have crossed to neighboring Uganda through the southwestern district of Kisoro after fresh fighting erupted at home.
The number is expected to rise as fighting in eastern DRC intensifies, said Kisoro district authorities in a statement on Monday.
“On ground it was observed that refugees have come in large numbers estimated at 5,000 people and others were still coming,” the statement said, noting that they entered Uganda on Sunday night and some refugees camped at a primary school in the border town of Bunagana.
The statement said the refugees do not have shelter, medicine, or water, and the hygienic situation is poor.
“The majority of the refugees are the elderly, children and women and others who are not physically okay and cannot walk easily,” the authorities said.
The Uganda Red Cross Society earlier said registration of new arrivals had started before they were transferred to refugee settlements.
Uganda hosts about 1.5 million refugees mostly from Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, and Somalia.
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