KAMPALA, Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Ugandan government clarified that it has not yet reached a formal agreement with the US to take in refugees from Afghanistan.
Addressing a Parliamentary Committee on Thursday, foreign affairs minister Jeje Odongo said discussions were continuing but no decision had yet been made.
Other countries, including Albania and Kosovo, have agreed to US requests to temporarily accept Afghan refugees.
Following the Taliban’s sudden seizure of power in Afghanistan, Uganda was reported in mid-week to have announced its readiness to take in some 2,000 Afghan refugees on a temporary basis as part of a deal with the United States.
The Ugandan Minister for Refugees, Esther Anyakun, said on Tuesday that the East African country was complying with a request made by the US government and was expecting at least 2,000 asylum seekers to arrive in the country soon.
The refugees are to stay in Uganda until they can travel to a safe third country, Anyakun said.
“The US reached our government to see if it could be in position to host the refugees and we accepted this. These are extraordinary engagements as we had no established programme to host these people,” the minister said by telephone, adding that Ugandan government remains unsure how soon it will be until the first refugees arrive.
“After being tested for coronavirus and interviewed by the Ugandan authorities, the refugees will first be accommodated in hotels near Entebbe airport and then transferred to refugee camps,” Anyakun said.
The news, however, got a number of lawmakers and other citizens worried over the said deal forcing Odongo to make the clarification.
The US government has been trying for months to win over third countries to accept the Afghans – primarily former local employees of the US authorities in Afghanistan and their families.
In the United States, up to 22,000 of them will initially be housed on military bases. They still face a lengthy asylum process before they can start their new life in the US. — NNN-AGENCIES
