At least 752 Uganda citizens were repatriated home from different countries abroad last year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has reported.
According to an Internal Affairs spokesperson, the 752 were returned from their host countries due to various reasons. “Some of these had no proper identification documents, others had expired visas while others didn’t have work visas at all. Some of these had gone through the back door to enter these countries. There were also some involved in criminal activities,” Mundeyi told the Nile Post.
In June last year, 80 members of a Ugandan religious cult who had been convinced to travel to Ethiopia and starve themselves in order to see Jesus were repatriated. The group had been duped by their pastor of an impending doomsday and that they would only be spared by meeting Jesus in Ethiopia.
The members from Soroti were asked by the pastor at Christ’s Disciple Church to sell all their belongings in preparation for the end of the world. By the time they were arrested by Ethiopian authorities, many of the members had starved and were frail. They were later repatriated to Uganda.
In May this year, 22 Ugandans who had been held under captivity in Myanmar were repatriated after spending months in rebel-controlled areas. These had been duped into getting jobs abroad and on reaching, they were taken to Myanmar where they offered hard labor.
