Uganda has reached an agreement with the US to take in deportees from third countries who may not get asylum, but are “reluctant” to go back to their own countries, according to Uganda’s foreign ministry.
Uganda won’t accept people with criminal records or unaccompanied minors under the temporary arrangement, the foreign ministry’s permanent secretary said in a statement. He did not say whether Uganda was receiving any payment or other benefits and how many deportees it would accept.
“Uganda also prefers that individuals from African countries shall be the ones transferred to Uganda. The two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented,” Bagiire Vincent Waiswa said.
The government of the east African country is the latest to strike a deal with the US, which is seeking to expel millions of undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and foreigners with criminal convictions.
In July, five immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, who Washington said had been convicted of serious crimes, were flown to Eswatini, where they are now in a high security prison. The deportations are being challenged by a group of Swazi and southern African NGOs, with a high court hearing scheduled for Friday.
Also in July, eight men from various countries were deported by the US to South Sudan, via Djibouti, where they were held for weeks in a shipping container. Meanwhile, more than 250 Venezuelans were repatriated to Venezuela after being sent to a notorious El Salvador prison in March without due process.
Uganda is a US ally and has been ruled by 80-year-old president Yoweri Museveni for almost 40 years. His political opponents are regularly sent to jail.
On Wednesday, a Ugandan official denied that it had reached a deal with the US, saying that they did not have the facilities and infrastructure to accommodate immigrants. The denial followed a CBS News story on Tuesday that cited internal government documents, reporting that the White House had reached deportation deals with Honduras and Uganda.
Uganda hosts nearly 2 million refugees and asylum seekers, most from other east African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan and Sudan.
