Government resumes repatriation of Ugandans stranded abroad
Government has announced resumption of repatriation of Ugandans who are stranded abroad after being halted for over two weeks.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, repatriation will resume on July 18.
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“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to inform the general public that the repatriation exercise of Ugandans stranded abroad due to Covid-19 pandemic is set to resume,” the statement reads in part.
The ministry says the exercise had been halted for two weeks to enable proper quarantining of returnees who had so far arrived in the country.
Consequently, flights for Ugandans abroad will resume on July 18,2020 from the US and Qatar whereas those stranded in Ottawa, Canada are expected on July 19.
“Additional repatriation flights will be indicated in the due course.”
On July,3, 2020, government suspended the repatriation exercise after indicating that quarantine centres were full to capacity and needed time to be able to empty them before receiving new returnees.
Government recently said all returnees must indicate to the responsible embassies their choice of facility in Uganda where they would be quarantined for 14 days after returning.
A total of 37 quarantine centres including high-end private hotels for self- pay, budget/ medium-end private hotels were gazette by government in Kampala and Wakiso for returnees.
By the time the repatriation exercise was halted two weeks ago, almost 800 of the 2300 Ugandans that government reported to be stranded abroad had already been repatriated.
Several Ugandans previously stranded in South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, UAE, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sudan and Turkey and India have so far been repatriated.
However, many others in the countries where repatriation took place say they are still stranded and are asking government to return them home.
https://nilepost.co.ug/2020/07/04/government-suspends-returning-of-ugandans-stranded-abroad/
