By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The East African country of Uganda has arrested at least 62 Nigerians living in the country without any documentation. In a similar raid across other parts of the country three days ago, many foreign nationals were also arrested. These arrests, the authorities revealed, were undertaken as part of their renewed border control efforts.
In this renewed effort, several locations were raided by government authorities the same day and many citizens of other countries, including Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Pakistan, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia, were arrested, with many of those arrested living under what the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uganda called “a highly restricted, self-contained apartment…designed to restrict movement.” Many of those arrested, numbering over 230, were without passports or any legal documentation to show how they were granted legal entry into the country. However, some of them had laptops, which the authorities said raised concerns over cybercriminal activities.
The 62 Nigerians arrested in Northern Uganda were also without permits, the Ugandan authorities said. Arrested Nigerian nationals were said to be operating without work permits in the country, while others were running a church, which is a violation of the immigration laws of Uganda.
This renewed crackdown on illegal immigrants by Ugandan authorities is coming at a time when South Africa is battling to contain the onslaught by its citizens against immigrants in their country, which has caused a wave of violence in different parts of the country.
The Ugandan authorities have yet to place charges, but they revealed that some of the arrested immigrants have confessed that they were lured into the country on the promise of job opportunities, which have not materialized since they entered the country.
