Uganda has stopped granting refugee status to arrivals from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, saying the countries are no longer experiencing active conflict.
Hilary Onek said Uganda instructed officials to stop registering asylum seekers from those countries, admitting only people fleeing ongoing wars in Congo.
Onek said Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans already holding refugee status are unaffected, but Uganda will not accept new applicants from those nations.
The decision follows sharply declining donor support for Uganda’s refugee program even as arrivals rise, leaving the country hosting two million people.
Onek said UNHCR funding fell from two hundred forty million dollars last year to under one hundred million, placing strain on Uganda.
Despite funding cuts, Uganda says it will keep working with conflict-affected countries to support stability and create conditions for refugees’ voluntary return.
Official figures show Uganda hosts fifty-one thousand eight hundred forty-five Somali refugees, representing 3.3 percent of the country’s total refugee population overall.
