Today (Sunday 22nd), the Ugandan government has announced that the first set of Afghan refugees will be arriving in the country.
Uganda has announced that the first batch of asylum seekers from Afghanistan (Afghan refugees) will arrive in the country today, Sunday 22nd.
Speaking via the Next Radio programme on Saturday, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hillary Onek said the refugees will be about 140 in number.
Onek however, stressed that the group will only be in the country temporarily after which they will be flown to the United States.
Contrary to allegations that Namboole Stadium will be used as a base to host these people, Onek indicated that the government has also set aside hotels preferably in Entebbe where they will be detained.
“The first Afghan asylum seekers will be arriving in Uganda tomorrow. They will be about 140. Subsequently, the next flight will follow,” Onek said.
“Uganda will be a transit point for Afghan refugees. We shall process them before they are flown into the US. These are not refugees and will not be in refugee settlements. They will be accommodated at most of the Entebbe hotels.”
He added that so far, a big number of the refugees coming into the country are women and children but raised that other numbers will also be expected at a later stage.
“The refugees that come in are mostly women and children. UN supports the government in providing health and educational services. We are able to improve the quality of those who come in,” he added.
As stated earlier, Uganda is set to bring in up to 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan after their country fell under the control of the Taliban.
Speaking at NBS TV’S Frontline programme on Thursday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gen. Jeje Odongo said they have put in place a committee to look into all the people coming from Afghanistan to ensure the process is done smoothly.
“When the Afghanistan refugees come here, they will not come here sabala sabala. I have put in place a committee to look into all the people coming from Afghanistan,” Gen Odongo said.
Odongo also said the US government reached out to Uganda because of its outstanding history and tradition of hosting refugees and other persons in need.
He said President Museveni expressed Uganda’s readiness to provide assistance and house these asylum seekers after which the US gave it a go-ahead.
“On Sunday, we got a request from the USA government that there might be some people out of Afghanistan who may not abe to travel directly to the USA and will therefore temporarily be here as refugees. They reached out to many; Uganda is one of them. I think they reached out to us because of our humanity,” Odongo said.
“They reached out to many; Uganda is one of them. I think they reached out to us because of our humanity. Discussions are still ongoing. The government of Uganda has said yes, but there is no final decision made on the Afghanistan refugees. The world will look at Uganda as a reliable partner,” added.
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