Banyarwanda herdsmen in Uganda are among hundreds of thousands that have fled devastating floods in eastern Uganda.Uganda’s State Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees has said the cattle keepers had moved away from wetlands and other areas affected by the floods. The floods, according to the parliamentarians, have killed about seven people including two children.“They have gone to higher lands. We have had to displace all of them. It was difficult for them to stay in floods,” Musa Ecweru told The New Times in Kampala.According to a local non-governmental organisation, the Pilgrim, over 120,000 people have been displaced and over 15,000 others are seeking evacuation, an appeal that has been complicated by a break down of infrastructure.“Some (Banyarwanda herdsmen) have bought land outside the wetlands. Others are being accommodated by their colleagues living away from the flooded areas,” John Otekat, a lawmaker said.Banyarwanda and other tribes from western Uganda including Bahima have lived on cattle keeping in the east of the country for decades.Local parliamentarians told a news conference in Kampala yesterday that the heavy rains have washed away roads and bridges in Teso sub-region. Pit-latrines have also collapsed raising fears for an outbreak of water borne diseases.Anthony Esenu, a pilgrim official estimated at least 200,000 people were in dire need of food. He said floods had destroyed about 600,000 hectares of crops.“The ground is soggy. It cannot hold any more water. The situation is pathetic. Local leaders by yesterday were trying to evacuate flood victims. “Teso is going to be hit by famine for the next three months, want it or not,” said MP Alice Alaso, who is also the Secretary General of the Forum for Democratic Change, a major opposition political party.The MPs demanded a six-month intervention by humanitarian agencies and government, which they accused of providing a discriminatory-inadequate assistance.The floods were amplified after the banks of the Greek river (River Aswa in northern Uganda) bust. The river has been the only channel that has usually regulated waters in Teso by transmitting it into River Nile.The Disaster minister said the government received initial signals of disastrous impending weather changes four months earlier but its assessment was inadequate.Alaso, also the chairperson of Teso Parliamentary Group, said the area population was yet to raise resources to supplement humanitarian assistance.Ecweru told journalists that the government lacked sufficient resources to handle the crisis. “Resources are not adequate for a problem, of such a magnitude. We are overwhelmed. We are trying to humanly do whatever we can do. The heavens are opening wider and we need everybody’s support,” he said.He said the army had accepted airlifting drugs to the affected areas.Ends
