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UN says millions misspent on Africa's biggest refugee crisis

UN says millions misspent on Africa's biggest refugee crisis; a search for 'ghost refugees'

UN says millions misspent on Africa's biggest refugee crisis Image Source : APUN says millions misspent on Africa's biggest refugee crisis

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — An internal inquiry says the United Nations refugee agency has misspent millions of dollars on Africa's largest refugee crisis, including paying for what became a parking lot at the Ugandan prime minister's office.

The report by the U.N.'s internal watchdog says about $11 million alone is being spent on a recount of the South Sudanese who poured into Uganda, to weed out potentially hundreds of thousands of "ghost refugees."

More than a million South Sudanese fled to neighboring Uganda after fresh fighting broke out in July 2016, causing a scramble by the U.N. and other humanitarian actors to help them find food and shelter.

Uganda has been praised internationally for welcoming refugees but has faced scrutiny over corruption in the refugee process.

U.N. refugee and Ugandan spokespeople did not comment.

Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.