The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Persons who were expelled from Tanzania’s Kagera region as undocumented migrants have petitioned the East African Court of Justice for a declaration that the actions of the governments of Uganda and Tanzania contravene the treaty for the establishment of the East African Community.
The group of 1,240 through their lawyers led by the former Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana are also seeking compensation, damages or restitution from the government of Tanzania and an immediate order compelling Uganda to protect or recompense them for their losses.
According to records, the persons were evicted through a two-week ultimatum issued by the then-President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete, on July 29, 2013, affecting thousands of individuals in the Kagera region, whom he characterized as undocumented and irregular migrants. Kikwete urged them to return to their respective countries of origin pointing out that they had shown disregard for Tanzania’s entry and naturalization regulations, exploiting the country’s hospitality.
Under the initiative known as ‘Operation Kimbunga (Commonly known as Operation Hurricane), Tanzanian authorities using a Joint Task Force comprising of the Police, Force, the Department of Immigration, the Intelligence Unit and the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces and local youths, conducted arrests and subsequently transported these individuals to transit centres near the border with Uganda.
As a result, Tanzanian government officials advised their counterparts in Uganda against repatriating them. However, authorities on the Ugandan side also declined to accept them. Initially, Kampala and Dar es Salaam were at odds over how and where to resettle the deportees and Uganda made a formal flash appeal to the UN on the matter.
Yofesi Jafferson Karugaba, leader of the affected persons and lead petitioner in the matter says over the years, they lived within different districts of the Kagera Region but they were systematically expelled from Tanzania following a Presidential Order. He adds that they now find themselves in a state of confusion, as neither of the two countries recognises them as citizens.
Records indicate that Ugandan government officials acknowledged that non-Ugandans would be required to return to their respective countries once identification processes were completed in a couple of months. Those who, for legitimate reasons, could not return would be compelled to apply for asylum. If their applications were approved, they would be relocated to a refugee camp within Uganda.
With the exception of a few individuals from Rwanda and Burundi who might have opted for refugee status, the majority identified strongly with Tanzania due to their long-term residence there, spanning several decades.
According to Rukutana, the development has rendered the affected persons stateless, with their only option being to seek refuge in Uganda, where they would be accommodated in refugee camps. He adds that in Tanzania, despite having occupied the land for generations, they are denied access to it and the rights associated with it, further compounding their sense of displacement and vulnerability.
According to the petition, the expelled were persons who were citizens of Tanzania by birth, descent, or naturalization.
“Some were immigrants to Tanzania who had stayed there for about forty years, while other individuals were intermarried with Tanzanians and resided and derived sustenance from the Tanzanian soil”, reads the petition.
It adds that among those expelled were cattle keepers mainly from Uganda who resided along the stretch in search of water and pastures with valid licenses and permits from the Tanzanian authorities. However, they contend that the expulsion swept all including minors, pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled. They were given only two weeks to exit the country.
According to the petitioners, following the order, the Tanzania authorities have indiscriminately seized and forced them out of the country with nothing themselves. Now their homes have been burnt and others sold by local leaders. In the process, families were separated and others lost their lives at the hands of the unlawful enforcement.
Rukutana who was in the company of other lawyers from Osh and Company Advocates said the two governments had designed mechanisms to address the matter but to date, they have failed to address or implement the same to the detriment and continuous suffering of their clients.
In this case, the government of Uganda is specifically being accused of negating its constitutional duty of protecting and preserving the inherent human rights of entitlement to life and ownership of their property. Rukutana adds that the clients continue to suffer these atrocities notwithstanding judgements and orders of the Tanzania courts which have been grossly ignored by their government.
Karugaba who is the lead petitioner says that those expelled included the elderly pregnant women, the disabled and other vulnerable persons who were all arbitrarily expelled and forced outside the borders of Tanzania. Karugaba is representing the group together with Abdallah Kigongo, Apollo Nyangire and Elifazi Batwiremu.
He says as a result, they are currently in concentration camps in Isingiro district and also in Kyaka I and II in the Kyegegwa facility and others are scattered in countries across the East African region.
“They still live in agony and distress due to lack of stable designated places of residence as most are still settled in concentration camps while others are migrating from one place to another in search of livelihood”, Karugaba says.
He adds that as a result of deprivation of citizenship, they continue to live in abject poverty unable to access the basic necessities of life, rejected and abandoned by both Uganda and Tanzania thereby rendering them stateless, destitute and devoid of any affinity. That the Uganda government neglected, failed or refused to recognize their rights before, during and after the expulsion.
They are now seeking a declaration that the two Governments neglected to implement the orders of the sovereign Republics of Uganda and Tanzania through their respective Heads of State compelling both countries to constitute Joint Verification Committees aimed at settling, compensating and further addressing rights of the expelled persons.
Both the governments of Uganda and Kenya are yet to be summoned to file their defence before this matter can be fixed for hearing by the Arusha Tanzania-based court.
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