Uganda has signed a deal with the United States to accept people from other countries who have been refused asylum in America but don’t want to go back to their home countries.
The Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the agreement on Thursday. This arrangement comes as US President Donald Trump pushes ahead with plans to deport millions of people who entered America illegally, with his government looking for other countries to send them to.
Trump’s administration has already deported some convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, a senior official at Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained that the agreement is not permanent and comes with important conditions.
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” he said in a statement.
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Waiswa also added that Uganda would prefer to take in African people under this scheme. “The two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented,” he said.
The clarification came after some confusion about Uganda’s position. Just one day earlier, another Ugandan foreign affairs official had denied reports in American media that the country had agreed to accept deportees. That official said Uganda didn’t have the proper facilities to house them.
Uganda is a close ally of the United States in East Africa and is already one of the world’s biggest refugee-hosting countries. The nation currently shelters nearly two million people who have fled their home countries—mostly from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.
