RWAMWANJA, Uganda — For months, Agnès Bulaba, a Congolese refugee In Ugandahad to go without the food rations she once depended on. Her children search local communities for anything they can find to eat.

“As an unmarried woman, life is hard,” Bulaba told the Associated Press. Some residents “still throw stones at us, but we just want to feed our children and buy them clothes,” explains this mother of six, who often works as a prostitute to provide for her family.

Uganda is home to more than 1.7 million refugees, making it the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Although it is renowned for welcoming those fleeing neighboring violenceUgandan officials and humanitarians say dwindling international support coupled with high numbers of refugees are putting severe pressure on host communities.

Around 10,000 new arrivals enter Uganda every month, according to UN figures. Some have recently fled the war in Sudanbut most come from neighboring South Sudan and Congo.

Bulaba is one of tens of thousands of people living in Rwamwanja, a refugee camp in southwestern Uganda. As in other camps across the East African country, refugees there are given small plots of land to farm as they are gradually weaned from their total dependence on humanitarian food rations.

Since 2021, as funding has steadily declinedThe UN World Food Program has prioritized the most vulnerable groups for food or cash assistance, which can amount to as little as $3. After spending three months in Uganda, refugees are entitled to 60% rations, and this number drops by half after six months. Only new arrivals receive 100% food aid, leaving the vast majority of the estimated 99,000 refugees in Bulaba camp vulnerable to hunger and other forms of poverty.

In 2017, the Ugandan government and the UN held a summit in Kampala, the capital, and called for 8 billion dollars to cope with the massive influx of refugees from South Sudan at the time. Only $350 million was pledged.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, visited Uganda last week on a trip aimed in part at highlighting the funding gap.

The international community “should not take for granted Uganda’s generosity and the global public good it provides,” Grandi said in a statement at the end of his visit. “The services here are overwhelmed. Natural resources are limited and financial support does not meet needs.

He also said international support “is urgently needed to maintain Uganda’s commitment to refugees”, urging donors and humanitarian partners to “unite alongside the government to meet the needs of the refugees and the generous communities that welcome them.”

Refugees in Uganda have access to the same hospitals as locals, and their children can go to school. Although this helps to integrate them into the Ugandan community, it sometimes happens that the competition for limited resources causes tension. However, violence is rarely reported.

Hillary Onek, Uganda’s refugee minister, said during Grandi’s visit that local officials needed support to help refugees become more independent. Although he said the country was “overloaded” with refugees, he cited several training options to help refugees become self-sufficient, including carpentry, masonry and metal welding.

“We try to be innovative,” he said. “As funding for refugee programs has declined over the years, there is not enough money to meet their demands, not even to give them enough food. »

Onek said the alternative is “to survive on your own, using your skills, using whatever abilities you have.”

But Bulaba, the Congolese refugee who has lived in Uganda since 2014 after fleeing violence in her home country with her two children, said she was unable to find a job. She has since had four other children who often go barefoot and without appropriate clothing. She no longer benefits from the monetary allowance for food that she previously received.

“To eat, we look for work, but there is no work,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

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