GLOBAL AID DECLINE STRAINS UGANDA’S REFUGEE RESPONSE EFFORTS

New Arrivals struggling to board UNHCR bus at Ocea Reception Center after fulfilling all the legal requirements to be resettled.

By Dramadri Federick
Arua City

The call for increased funding for the refugee response in Uganda has reached a critical point, following the ongoing influx of refugees into the country.
This surge has compelled the Office of the Prime Minister to open a new zone in Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement to accommodate the overwhelming arrivals in West Nile.

The ongoing and unprecedented influx of refugees into the country, primarily from conflict-affected neighboring nations such as South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic, has placed immense pressure on Uganda’s already stretched resources.

Zone 8 was launched on July 1, 2025, with a capacity to host 60,000 refugees but is currently facing a severe lack of basic social services, including healthcare and education.

During a recent visit to Rhino camp refugee settlement, Refugees raised urgent concerns ranging from extreme hunger, insecurity, and lack of basic social services.
“The size of scorpions that are stinging us here are like half an inch because we are put on rocky ground, we don’t have carpets, clean water and even toilets. We are just living in a bush”. “there is lack of school both primary and Secondary, and here since this is a new village, there’re no roads that connect the settlement to health services, market places and even we don’t have a health center in this zone,” they lamented.

Armitage Basikania, the Settlement Commandant at Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement, noted that over 3,000 refugees have already been settled in Zone 8. However, they lack adequate housing units, as the Office of the Prime Minister has no carpets or taplins to provide, and access to clean water remains a significant challenge.
“Close to two months now we have not even gotten a stable water source, we’re still doing water tracking which is not sustainable and we don’t have any money,” Basikania explained.

While the Global Refugee Forum 2023 highlighted refugee issues as a matter of global importance calling for concerted effort in responding to the emergency, Uganda continues to shoulder a heavy burden due to declining funding, which has adversely affected partner operations within the settlements do to the hospitability of her citizens and the Refugees Open door policy the country has attached to help those seeking for refuge or asylum.

Winifred Nassaazi, team leader at Andre Foods International one of the partners responsible for food distribution in Rhino Camp Refugee settlement stated that they have scaled down their staffing and reduced food rations to 60% for new arrivals due to reduced aiding and donor fatigue. Refugees who have been in the settlement for more than six months often receive little food, sometimes only 20% of their rations, depending on their level of vulnerability.

“We used to give the new arrivals adequate food at least at 100 percent that means but now we give at 60% that is 0.09kg of salt, 0.54kg is vegetable oil and then 1.8kg of Pulses which can be peas or beans, and lastly 7.56kg of cereals. This ration is for a person because we don’t have enough to give and this is only for those who have newly arrived at the reception center,” Nassaazi revealed.

According to UNIEF, food rations in Ugandan Refugee Settlements have been slashed, with monthly support to the equivalent of USD $4.9 per person per month for highly vulnerable refugees and USD $2.70 per person per month for moderately vulnerable refugees and highlighted that these rations are the lowest ration sizes WFP is providing in East Africa.

Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement, established in 1992, currently hosts approximately 194,679 refugees as of 4th September 2025 from conflict-torn neighboring countries such as South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic.

Lillian Aber, the Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees, warned during a recent visit to the settlements that if additional global aid is not provided, Uganda may be forced to tighten its reception guidelines. “I’ve quarreled, I have protested, I have made noise because refugee response and our open door policy shouldn’t be abused, donors must give it priority.”

The Records from the Uganda Comprehensive Refugee Response Portal managed by the United Nations High Commission for the Refugees, UNHCR, as at August 31, 2025 indicate that Uganda is now a home to 1,946,518 Refugees, and 39,087 Asylum seekers 80% of whom are women and children who are in need of humanitarian support.