Kenyan refugees to be voluntarily repatriated
Apr 03, 2011
UGANDA, Kenya and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are planning to voluntarily repatriate Kenyan refugees in Uganda who fled the 2007 post-election violence.
By Raymond Baguma
UGANDA, Kenya and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are planning to voluntarily repatriate Kenyan refugees in Uganda who fled the 2007 post-election violence.
A nine-member Kenyan delegation led by the minister for special programmes, Ester Muragi Mathenge, was in Uganda last week to discuss the repatriation.
The delegation visited the Kenyan refugees at Panyadoli in Kiryandongo district and held a joint meeting with the Government of Uganda and the UNHCR at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
The state minister for disaster preparedness, Musa Ecweru, said the Kenyan and Ugandan delegation as well as UNHCR had agreed on the principles that will govern the repatriation.
He said the Kenyan delegation took a copy of the principles to the Kenyan Attorney General and a feedback is expected within a week.
Reports had indicated that the Ugandan Police had blocked the Kenyan delegation from visiting the refugees at the Panyandoli settlement.
Ecweru said there are rules that govern the movement of senior representatives of foreign governments and that is why they had been denied access to the camp.
UGANDA, Kenya and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are planning to voluntarily repatriate Kenyan refugees in Uganda who fled the 2007 post-election violence.
A nine-member Kenyan delegation led by the minister for special programmes, Ester Muragi Mathenge, was in Uganda last week to discuss the repatriation.
The delegation visited the Kenyan refugees at Panyadoli in Kiryandongo district and held a joint meeting with the Government of Uganda and the UNHCR at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
The state minister for disaster preparedness, Musa Ecweru, said the Kenyan and Ugandan delegation as well as UNHCR had agreed on the principles that will govern the repatriation.
He said the Kenyan delegation took a copy of the principles to the Kenyan Attorney General and a feedback is expected within a week.
Reports had indicated that the Ugandan Police had blocked the Kenyan delegation from visiting the refugees at the Panyandoli settlement.
Ecweru said there are rules that govern the movement of senior representatives of foreign governments and that is why they had been denied access to the camp.