The United Nations Refugee Agency, and the government of Uganda, have launched an appeal to donors for hundreds of millions of US dollars. They say the money is urgently needed to address the needs of refugees in the East African country. CGTN's Michael Baleke has this report.

Uganda is taking care of the largest number of refugees on the African continent with 1.2 million asylum seekers, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Most of them are running from conflict in the Eastern DR Congo and South Sudan. The UN refugee agency says it needs more than $900 million to take care of all the asylum seekers coming to Uganda.

ROSA MALANGO UN RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE, UGANDA "We all need to play a critical role in bringing Uganda's response plans to life by living up to the burden sharing commitments and giving hope to the hundreds of Ugandans sharing their land, their services and their homes with those who need it most."

The money is meant to ensure the provision of water and sanitation, health and nutrition, food, shelter, education, environmental protection, livelihood support, and protection services.

MUSA ECWERU, MINISTER STATE FOR RELIEF AND DISASTER PREPAREDNESS, UGANDA "We had never known that at any given time we shall host over one million people, we had always oscillated between 200,000 - 300, that was what we knew even at the peak of displacement from DR Congo, from Rwanda and from Burundi, but when South Sudan collapsed, we received refugees surpassing a million and that overwhelmed our systems."

Only 57 per cent of the Refugee Response Plan budget for 2018 was funded, leaving many unmet needs. And according to the UNHCR in 2019, contributions have been particularly slow, plus there have been allegations of fraud and mismanagement.

COLETTE MARCELLIN DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION, US EMBASSY IN KAMPALA "We demand transparency, development and accountability from those receiving funds on the part of our tax payers, this includes UNHCR and other UN Agencies, partners in the Government of Uganda and NGOs."

The government is trying to assure donors it's taking the allegations of fraud seriously.

MUSA ECWERU, MINISTER STATE FOR RELIEF AND DISASTER PREPAREDNESS, UGANDA "The process maybe slow, but I want to assure you it is thorough and all those who will be implicated will be paraded and brought before the courts of law and they will be disciplined."

Uganda has put in place measures like the biometric verification system for all asylum seekers and refugees in the country.

MICHAEL BALEKE KAMPALA, UGANDA "Uganda has maintained an open-door policy to refugees, which allows refugees to move freely, work, go to school and even start a business. This year alone, 39,000 more refugees arrived in the country, and the UNHCR anticipates the refugee population may grow to 1.3 million by the end of next year with the need for financial support growing more urgent each day. Michael Baleke CGTN, Kampala, Uganda."