Uganda not yet open for new refugee arrivals

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Disaster Preparedness Minister Eng. Hillary Onek has said that the ban issued by the government on new arrivals of refugees is still in force. Onek said that the country is still grappling with COVID-19 internally, and cannot, therefore, handle an extra burden from refugees.

Speaking to the media at Uganda Media Centre in Kampala, Onek said that the only exemption to this order was in Zombo district where a group of more than 3,000 refugees running away from DR Congo camped at the border for days until the government allowed them to enter Uganda on humanitarian and security grounds.

He added that another group of about 1,000 refugees is also camped at the Uganda-South Sudan border after skirmishes broke out in their country. But these he said, were denied entrance into Uganda. He said they are hopeful that after some days when peace returns to their areas of settlement, they will return.

Meanwhile Sanusi Tejan Savage, the Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration said that during the lockdown and immediately after the opening of Uganda’s international borders, they were able to relocate several refugees to other countries. He said the majority of them were taken either in the United State of America, Sweden or Norway.

On the other hand, over 100 Ugandans who were stranded in Saudi Arabia were also repatriated back to Uganda. Tejan who is just six months in Uganda said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked if they could assist them to repatriate these Ugandans who were stranded in several Gulf countries.

In reaction to the revelation that IOM was relocating refugees to Europe and North America, Onek appealed to Ugandans not to attempt to be registered as refugees in order to benefit from the relocation. Onek said, amidst the problems that Uganda is grappling with, it remains the best country for anyone to live in.

Speaking at the same function, the outgoing Japanese ambassador to Uganda Kameda Kazuaki thanked the government for its open-door refugee policy. He pledged that his government will continue supporting government and other UN agencies to deal with refugees.

Japan contributed USD 4.1 million to help in the fight against COVID-19 among refugees and host communities. Uganda is home to about 1.4 million refugees mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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