Archbishop of Canterbury visits Uganda

PIC: Bishops from West Nile and South Sudan at Moyo airfield awaiting the arrival of Archbishop Justin Welby who is set to visit South Sudan refugees in Moyo and Ajumani. (Credit: Godfrey Ojore)

RELIGION | ANGLICAN CHURCH

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the most senior bishop in the Church of England, is in Uganda for a one-day visit.

He flew in Tuesday evening.

He was received at Entebbe International Airport by the head of Church of Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali and other senior church leaders.

According to Rev. Hosea Odongo, Archbishop Welby was from South Sudan where he had gone to inaugurate the new Anglican Church province which comprises of five dioceses.

Odongo told New Vision on phone that the Archbishop of Cantebury is slated to visit refugees from South Sudan living in Bela Meling in Moyo district and Mireyi in Adjumani.

"After visiting those two camps, the Archbishop will return to meet President [Yoweri] Museveni before he departs in the evening," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister of state for disaster preparedness Musa Ecweru is already in Moyo to receive the Archbishop where he is set to take him around the two refugee camps.

"We got a communication from the church that the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury expressed interest to visit the two camps in Ajumani and Moyo and it is the reason I travelled early," he said.

Asked why the Anglican leader had focused on the two camps, Ecweru said that it must have been the church that arranged it that way and not government.

It is barely a month since Uganda hosted the world refugee conference attended by high profile leaders from across the world, including UN secretary general António Guterres.

Currently, Uganda is one of the leading refugee-hosting nations in the world.