Uganda has not yet decided whether to host 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan

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This content was published on Aug 19, 2021 – 16:46

KAMPALA, August 19 (EFE) – Today before Parliament, Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gigi Odongo, said the decision announced by the authorities on Tuesday to immediately welcome 2,000 Afghan refugees into their territory is no longer final.

“No decision has been made whether they will come or not. It is a proposal, a proposal, the talks are continuing … No important decision has been made,” Odongo told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, according to the media. local reports.

On August 17, the Deputy Minister for Assistance, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Esther Anyakon, confirmed to Efe that the Ugandan government has accepted the request made by the US authorities for this nation to immediately welcome 2,000 Afghanis.

The Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued on Tuesday that “the US government spoke last weekend with several of its international partners, including Uganda, to assist in the potential case in which it was necessary to temporarily host some Afghans.”

The text stated that the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, responded to the US request, “confirming Uganda’s readiness to host temporarily some people affected by the current crisis.”

At the request of a female parliamentarian, the Ugandan government will explain to the council next week the possible plan to host Afghan refugees in the country, according to local media.

Uganda is currently home to about 1.5 million refugees, mostly from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Rwanda, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

All refugees in Uganda are allowed to leave the camps set up for them by the United Nations and government authorities, look for work, start any kind of business, study in public schools and institutes and go to public hospitals.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this East African country has one of the most generous refugee hosting models in the world. EFE

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