Over 270 Ugandans stranded abroad set off from America, Carribean as repatriation resumes

A total of 276 Ugandans, Ugandan residents and dependent pass holders have on Friday July 17 departed Dulles International Airport, Washington, DC, bound for Entebbe International Airport government has said.

Government early this week announced it has resumed the repatriation exercise for Ugandans stranded abroad after being halted for two weeks.

According to a statement by the Ugandan Embassy in the US, the group that is currently airborne flew using Ethiopian Airlines.

“The group was seen off by the Ambassador of Uganda to the USA, South America and the Caribbean, H.E. Mull Sebujja Katende who was flanked by Deputy Chief of Mission, Amb. Santa Mary Laker-Kinyera and Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, Amb. Adonia Ayebare,” the statement said.

“A second group of 88 passengers will depart from Canada, South America and the Caribbean tomorrow 18th July 2020 transiting in Addis Ababa and arrive in Entebbe on July, 19, 2020.”

According to government, the travellers from the US and Caribbean included Ugandans and legal residents and their dependents, affected by the March 23,2020 closure of Entebbe Airport due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Ugandan Embassy says that majority of passengers are holders of US visitors’ visas, F1 and J1 student and research fellow visas and Ugandan resident permit holders who were unable to travel back to Uganda when the airport was closed.

“The Uganda Embassies in North America also registered a number of stranded Ugandans who had traveled for medical reasons. Given the closure of numerous borders in both North and South America due to COVID-19 concerns and visa limitations of several of the affected persons it was necessary to create multiple departure locations, to ensure that everyone who could do so was afforded an opportunity to return.”

Amb. Katende explained that the registration and repatriation process, though complex, due to the size of the area of accreditation, had been made possible by the seamless coordination and teamwork of the staff at the three Embassies of Uganda in Washington, DC, New York and Ottawa.

The repatriation exercise was two weeks ago suspended after government revealed that the quarantine centres where the returnees are expected to spend 14 days were full to capacity.

By the time the repatriation exercise was halted, several Ugandans previously stranded in South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, UAE, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sudan and Turkey and India had  been repatriated.

Government intends to return home over 2300 Ugandan stuck in various countries abroad.

https://nilepost.co.ug/2020/07/16/government-resumes-repatriation-of-ugandans-stranded-abroad/