Afghan nationals cross the border into Pakistan at the border crossing in Chaman on August 18, 2021. PHOTO/AFP
Uganda has received the first batch of Afghan refugees ahead of their screening and departure to United States.
The Government Spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo said first batch of 51 evacuees children, women and men arrived in Uganda via Entebbe Airport at 6am this morning aboard a privately chartered plane.
“They were received by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, US Mission in Uganda and will be in hotels within Entebbe,” Opondo said via his official Twitter handle.
Although Government has no national register of refugees in Uganda, information from United Nations Refugee Agency indicates that as at 31st July 2021, Uganda is home to 1,499,562 refugees and of these, 1,406,383 are living in settlements while the erst of 93,179 live in urban areas.
Yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeje Odong revealed that Uganda will receive the first batch of refugees and they are expected to stay in Uganda between 2 weeks up to 4 months initially.
Last week, the Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Hillary Onek told Parliament that Uganda was in talks to offer asylum to 2000 Afghan refugees and they will stay in hotels around Kampala, as opposed to earlier reports that the refugees will be kept at Mandela National Stadium in Namboole.
The development comes at the time most western nations are fighting to beat the 31st August 2021 deadline the Taliban has issued to evacuate their national.
Afghanistan was thrown into chaos after US ended its 20year occupation, giving room for the Taliban militants to over throw the Ashraf Ghani government last week, a move that sent shockwaves into the intelligence community.
