Nakivale : hunger kills, a Congolese refugee dies in front of the UNHCR

SOS Médias Burundi

Nakivale, July 2, 2025 – Hunger has struck again in refugee camps in Uganda. A Congolese refugee, a member of the Banyamulenge community, died Tuesday evening in the Nakivale camp after a week of hunger strike. He was protesting the suspension of his food aid. The tragedy occurred in the Base Camp area, where the forty-year-old man had decided to besiege the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Ugandan Prime Minister’s Office for Refugees, and humanitarian partners, including the World Food Program (WFP).

According to witnesses, the refugee declared that he was “vulnerable, destitute, and helpless,” adding that he no longer had any assistance and that he preferred “to die in the eyes of those who inflict death on him.”

As promised, he died Tuesday evening, after spending a week without eating, camped outside the offices of humanitarian agencies. “He had started a hunger strike to demand that the UNHCR restore his assistance, but no one listened to him until death claimed him,” said one refugee.

The man had left his home in the village of Nyarugugu to carry out his desperate action. His body was transferred to the morgue of the camp hospital.

Tensions are running high in the camp. Many refugees fear this tragedy is only the beginning. “This is only the beginning, others will die or commit suicide,” they warn.

This incident comes as the refugees in Nakivale are experiencing a drastic reduction in their food rations, cut by more than half, and a suspension of cash assistance. The UNHCR attributes these measures to a critical lack of funding. The situation has further deteriorated with the suspension of USAID, a US fund that financed more than 75% of assistance programs, including food rations.

The refugees are urgently appealing to the UNHCR and the Ugandan government to find new partners to fill this funding gap and limit the dramatic consequences of these repeated and untimely aid cuts.

The Nakivale camp, located in southwestern Uganda, is home to more than 150,000 refugees, including over 33,000 Burundians.

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Refugees, including children, surround the lifeless body of a Congolese refugee who died after a hunger strike at Nakivale camp, Uganda, on July 1, 2025 (SOS Médias Burundi)