Kayga refugees still refusing UNHCR relocation to Adjoung Thok
About 340 Nuba refugees from Kayga village in South Kordofan’s Kadugli Locality who had arrived to Yida camp in Unity State in December last year are still refusing relocation by UNHR to Adjoung Thok camp.
Yida camp has a population of approximately 70,000 people. UNHCR has designated the smaller Adjoung Thok camp, about 25 kilometers from Yida, as the settlement site for new arrivals from the Nuba Mountains, and permits new arrivals to stay in Yida only while in transit.
The refugees said UNHCR denied them food rations since they rejected relocation to Adjoung Thok camp, and now they are reporting an acute shortage of food and other essential services.
In February, about 250 refugees mostly from Kayga area reportedly left Yida camp heading to Adjoung Thok after the humanitarian situation became unbearable.
Al Sheikh Fahl Kuku, an omda of Kayga in Yida camp told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, “Since we arrived here nothing is being given to us, the organization just surveyed for us a piece of land far away from the camp.”
“We only rely on our relatives who are registered in the camp, so when they receive their food rations they come to give us something to eat,” he said.
About 40 refugees from Keyga went to Adjuong Thok camp when the situation worsened, according to Al Sheikh. He noted the refugees still stick to their position not to leave Yida because most of the families left their children in the village.
He added, “The Nuba citizens who are trapped in Kayga village are now reluctant to come to Yida camp after they learnt the humanitarian situation we are in,” added the omda.
He called on the UNHCR to reverse its decision and distribute food and other essential services to the refugees instead of putting pressure on them to move to Ajuong Thok.
File photo: Kush Primary School in Yida Camp, Unity State
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