Uganda: Refugee influx prompts government call for regional talks

Uganda is 'overwhelmed' by the current influx of Congolese refugees fleeing renewed fighting in North Kivu Province in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is calling for an emergency meeting of countries in the Great Lakes Region to work out a road map for lasting peace, say officials. 'We have a problem of feeding these big numbers. The influx has come at the time when our donors are experiencing financial shocks, which has a direct impact to government and UNHCR [UN Refugee Agency] to look [after] and cater for the refugees,' Musa Ecweru, Uganda’s state minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, told IRIN.