COVID-19: Government resumes repatriation of Ugandans with flights from Canada, Qatar and USA

Following 14 days of waiting, the government has announced it will resume the phased repatriation of Ugandans who are currently stuck abroad, with the next scheduled flights coming from the United States and Qatar.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced earlier this month that it was halting the repatriation process, citing the large number of returnees that had taken up the space in quarantine facilities.

“Accordingly, the relevant MDAs that are caretaking the returnees have requested that we pause for a break in the arrivals for a period of approximately two weeks starting July 4 so as to enable them efficiently manage the numbers that are already in mandatory quarantine,” Ambassador Patrick Mugoya, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a July 3^rd notice to all Ugandan missions abroad.

“Repatriation will therefore resume after decongesting the quarantine facilities,” he added.

The Foreign Affairs ministry’s latest update says the repatriation process will resume tomorrow on Saturday, 18^th July, 2020.

There are scheduled flights from Washington DC and Doha tomorrow (Saturday) and another flight from Ottawa (Canada) on Sunday.

The Ministry says additional repatriation flights will be communicated in due course.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to reiterate the commitment of the government to the speedy return of Ugandans who were stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

As of July 4^th, 2020 Uganda had repatriated close to 1,000 of its citizens and legal residents from different parts of the world including; Ireland, United Kingdom, Iceland, Afghanistan, India, South Sudan, Dubai and South Africa among a host of other nations.