Uganda strained by influx of refugees from South Sudan

Uganda has warned that its resources are strained by the more than 400,000 refugees who have poured into the country in recent months from South Sudan’s civil war.

The East African nation now has one of the world’s largest refugee centers.

A government official told The Associated Press that the daily influx has been surpassing 3,000 people, many of them children afraid of being forcibly conscripted into armed groups in South Sudan.

Many of the refugees are now getting half rations of maize meal and beans.

The refugee flood began in July when deadly violence broke out in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

The United Nations says over 670,000 South Sudanese refugees are now sheltering in Uganda, which also hosts over 45,000 refugees from Burundi’s political violence.

One resettlement camp in northern Uganda known as Bidi Bidi is now home to more than 270,000 refugees, one of the world’s largest even though it was set up only in August.

Tens of thousands have died in South Sudan’s civil war, which began in December 2013. The conflict often has been fought along ethnic lines. The United Nations has warned of possible genocide.