By Felix Warom & Clement Aluma
The State Minister for Internal Affairs, Mario Obiga Kania, yesterday blocked a regional meeting that was to discuss the continued influx of South Sudanese refugees in the West Nile sub-region.
The meeting, that attracted security personnel, MPs from the region, civil society members, politicians and land lords who offered the land, aborted when the Minister said it was not cleared by the security team and that they ministry was not aware of the source of funds to organize the regional meeting.
The coordinator for the meeting, Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, said it was unfortunate that the minister had let politics override the intentions for development in the region.
About 150 participants who had had traveled from the eight districts to discuss the complex issues regarding refugees, were left stranded after the Minister’s directive.
West Nile Sub-region is currently hosting about 500,000 South Sudanese refugees who continue to flock the region escaping hunger, continued fighting and break down in social services.
