Arua officials warn foreigners to register or face arrest, deportation
November 5, 2014 (KAMPALA) – South Sudanese in Uganda’s Western Nile region fear they could be deported after authorities issued an ultimatum to foreigners in the area, demanding they officially register.
Those who fail to comply with the order could face arrest or deportation.
Officials in the Arua district, located in western Uganda on the Congolese border, were on Tuesday urging foreigners to register their presence and pay the $100 fee within 90 days.
However, South Sudanese in the area expressed concern about their legal status in the country, describing the demands as troublesome.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, Peter Alhaj, the acting chairperson of the Equatoria Students’ Association in Western Nile, said there were already signs that the decree was not being carried out transparently.
He said he had received reports that Ugandan officials had been going door to door collecting paymemts of 10,000 shillings.
“The order has not been properly verified and perhaps South Sudanese should refrain from paying money, anyhow maybe those people are not government officials,” said Alhaj.
The vice-president of the Equatoria Students’ Union in Uganda, Bush Buse Ako, urged the South Sudan embassy to immediately intervene to avoid panic and misunderstandings among South Sudanese in the country, particularly students who are currently preparing to sit exams.
“This information was only heard in Arua and I wonder why the orderhas been only made in that area if it is a national order applicable to all foreigners,” said Ako.
Most countries reserve the right to deport foreigners, even those who are long-time residents, if they have committed a serious crime, illegally entered the country, overstayed or broken the conditions of their visa or otherwise lost their legal status to remain in that country.
However, Ako says such orders require a specific process that must clearly be validated by the government.
He urged South Sudanese to wait for official notification from the Ugandan government through the embassy before handing over any money, saying it was possible some individuals were collecting fraudulently from foreigners.
Ako says Uganda and South Sudan share a close, strategic partnership and have political, economic and socially ties dating back to the South’s long struggle for independence from the north.
Uganda has also been providing military support to the South Sudanese government, which is battling to contain a rebellion since renewed violence broke out in the young nation in mid-December last year amid a political dispute in the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
He maintains that the majority of South Sudanese in Uganda are respectful of the country’s laws and regulations.
The Arua district is home to more than 15,000 South Sudanese refugees who fled across the border after the latest outbreak of violence.
South Sudanese who earlier fled to Arua after the South’s protracted civil war with the north were later repatriated after the warring parties signed a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005, paving the way for a referendum on self-determination in 2011.
(ST)