According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Uganda, which is the African country hosting the most refugees, is "seeing a sharp increase in the number of Congolese displaced people crossing its western border due to increased insecurity in the east of the country."
"Since January, more than 41,000 Congolese have sought safety in Uganda, bringing the total number of Congolese in the country to about 600,000," out of the 1.8 million refugees currently hosted in the country.
Over the past two weeks, an average of 600 people have been entering the country daily, UNHCR said in a statement.
According to UNHCR, the new arrivals, mostly women and children, are entering Uganda through three main points: Bunagana in Kisoro district, Butogota in Kanungu and Sebagoro in Kikuube.
"Children are particularly affected, as many arrive in a weakened state due to the high prevalence of malaria and malnutrition," he said.
"Since January, around nine children under the age of five have died from malnutrition-related anaemia in the Nyakabande and Matanda transit centres in the south-west of the country," he said.
According to the UN agency, critical shortages of water, latrines and bathing facilities, particularly in the Matanda and Nyakabande transit centres, are putting people at risk of contracting deadly diseases.
However, he stressed that, in the context of ongoing cuts in international funding, this significant increase in refugee arrivals could overwhelm Uganda, which is also responding to the needs of more than 70,000 Sudanese refugees who fled the two-year-old war.
The March 23 Movement (M23) militia, allegedly backed by the Rwandan regime, currently controls the capitals of the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, which border Rwanda and are rich in minerals such as gold and coltan, essential for the technology industry and the manufacture of mobile phones.
The DR Congo – a neighbouring nation of Angola – and Rwanda together supply about half of the world's coltan, a mineral essential for the manufacture of phones and other electronic devices.
In particular, tantalum – extracted from coltan – and cobalt are key minerals used by technology giants such as Apple, HP and Intel.
