Uganda said that it would be temporarily hosting some 2,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban in order to honor a United States government request.
Speaking this Tuesday, Esther Anyakun Davinia, Uganda’s junior minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees said: “The request was made yesterday by the U.S. government to H.E. [President Yoweri Museveni] and he has given them an OK to bring 2,000 [Afghan] refugees to Uganda.”
According to a post on social media by international NGO East Africa Refugee Relief, some 500 Afghans are expected to land on Tuesday at Entebbe International airport.
The disaster preparedness ministry said they are prepared for their arrival.
#Uganda to host 2,000 Afghan #refugees on the request of the US Government.
The first batch of 500 Afghans are expected to land today at the Entebbe International airport.
The Ministry of Disaster preparedness and refugees says they are prepared for their arrival.
– East Africa Refugee Relief (@EARefugeeRelief) August 17, 2021
They will be in Uganda for three months before the US resettles them somewhere else, said the ministry.
Uganda has a history of hosting refugees–it currently hosts 1.4 million people who fled fighting in South Sudan.
In addition to Uganda, Albania and Kosovo are also taking Afghans in temporarily, as per the US request.