Statement on the Tragic Events in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement – Uganda
“In Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, where civilians fled the horrors of war seeking safety, shocking acts of violence have claimed innocent lives and further exhausted bodies already worn by displacement. The Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy strongly condemns these crimes and calls for an urgent, independent investigation to hold perpetrators accountable and protect civilians. We urge refugees to uphold unity, wisdom, and patience, ensuring hope and humanity remain their shield against violence and division.”
Date: 11 July 2025
To our sons and daughters, our mothers and brothers in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement,
To those who fled the inferno of war in search of safety,
To those who have endured the bitterness of loss, poverty, and exile ..
We write to you today at a moment that calls for wisdom before anger and insight before haste. The Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy raises its voice in strong condemnation of the heartbreaking violence that took place in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, claiming innocent lives and wounding bodies already exhausted by displacement and the long wait for peace that has yet to come.
What occurred last night – a treacherous attack on our brothers and sisters in Cluster L, East Kiryandongo – is a crime against humanity, a crime against childhood, and a crime against the very concept of refuge. When the tents of the displaced become battlefields, silence is no longer an option.
We see in these attacks nothing but a malicious attempt to ignite division and spread terror among people already worn down by wars and disasters. Can exile itself become yet another stage for new wounds?
Yet, we firmly believe that evil will not prevail, that the voice of reason will not perish, and that the Sudanese spirit – North and South – is far too vast to be broken by violence within the camp.
Dear refugees,
What binds the peoples of Sudan and South Sudan together is greater than these transient events and purer than the tools of this brutality. It is a shared history of wounds and hardships, of sorrow – and of love as well. You are children of the same land and the same dreams, torn apart by war. You are victims of the same tragedies, carrying burdens created by politics, not by peoples. How then can you allow violence to take shelter among you again? How can you replay the horrors of war in the very land you fled to escape them?
At the Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy, we condemn these brutal acts with every fiber of our grief and hope. We urge you – men and women, young and old, survivors of shared suffering – not to succumb to hatred, but to exercise patience and self-restraint, and to deny those who seek to destabilize your peace any chance of success. Those who fan the flames of division do not represent you or your nations; they represent a project aimed at killing what remains of your humanity. We also call for an urgent and independent investigation into these events to determine accountability, prosecute the perpetrators, prevent recurrence, and protect civilians and camps from future attacks.
We call on all refugees to respect one another and raise the voice of wisdom above the voice of hatred. The tent that shelters you is one, the table you share comes from the same hand, and the air you breathe does not distinguish between North and South.
We remind you with love that this land – Uganda – opened its doors when all others closed them, welcomed you and embraced your children, granting you the right to live when your own homelands tightened around you. Be faithful to this kindness. Cooperate with the Ugandan authorities to safeguard your security, and report every offender or criminal instead of becoming part of the chaos or unintentionally undermining your own safety.
We call on you all to stand united, to protect what remains of your dignity and peace of mind, and to work together to end all forms of violence and build an environment of mutual respect and conscious coexistence. Protect the remnants of your dreams of living one day free from violence. Be one heart, one hand, and a small homeland in exile called Kiryandongo.
To you, we send love and prayers, the strength of patience, rapid healing for every wounded body, and mercy and steadiness for every trembling heart.
The Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy
Kampala – Uganda
11 July 2025
