The Executive Committee of Adjumani Elders’ Forum (ADEFO), accompanied by the BSU IV Coordination Team, on January 29, 2026, visited the National Memory and Peace Documentation Centre in Kitgum town on a bench-marking mission as ADEFO prepares to establish a resource centre in Adjumani town to provided information and learning on hosts and refugees.

Adjumani District, in West Nile, hosts one of the largest numbers of refugees in Uganda, mostly from South Sudan. ADEFO played a key role in settling refugees by providing land, free-of-charge, on which the government has been settling them. ADEFO is also involved in mediating conflicts between hosts and refugees, as well as among refugees themselves.

The ADEFO centre will showcase sociocultural attributes of both refugees and the host-communities, acting as a one stop centre for information for the local communities and visitors, including researchers.

It will display artifacts of the Madi people, who are the hosts, and the different South Sudanese tribes in the area. One of the key objectives of the centre is to foster peaceful coexistence between the refugees and the hosts.

The ADEFO team included Mr. Pauilino Vusso (Chairman), Mr. Mahmud Doka (Secretary) and foru chiefs who are committee members – Akuti Moses Chiki, Stephen Drani, Oneka Van Chope, and Lagu Imbrahim. Also travelling with them was Mr. Idule Sisto who is in charge of administration and ICT.

The Gulu team included Prof. Charles Nelson Okumu (BSU Chair), Dr. Agatha Alidri (BSU Coordinator) and Dr. Francis Atube (the BSU Deputy Coordinator- Administration).

The Kitgum centre was established in 2011 by the Refugee Law Project of Makerere. and is managed my the same organisation.