Six South Sudanese refugees die in mob attack on Ugandan camp

Ugandan police said Sunday that 13 people had been arrested after a mob attacked a camp housing tens of thousands of refugees in the country’s northwest, killing six South Sudanese.

Regional police spokeswoman Josephine Angucia told AFP the violence occurred late Saturday at Rhino Camp, a major settlement in the West Nile area near the border with South Sudan accommodating more than 100,000 refugees.

“Thirteen people who are suspected to have taken part in the attack on the refugee camp have been arrested, and we are looking for others,” she said.

The alleged assault of a grazer from the local community by refugees from Rhino Camp ignited tensions that spilled over into violence, Angucia said.

“The mob then descended on the camp, killing six refugees before police and the army deployed and prevented more attacks,” she said. “Order has now been restored.”

There are more than 1.4 million refugees in Uganda, according to the UNHCR, more than anywhere else in Africa.

Most come from neighbouring South Sudan, where civil war left some 380,000 dead and four million on the run.

Rhino Camp is one of the largest refugee settlements in Uganda, but tensions between the host community and the refugees has boiled over into violence.

In December, a South Sudanese refugee was killed and several others wounded during clashes with locals at a camp in the northern border district of Adjumani.

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