Foreign spies living in Uganda have been warned against operating under the guise of being refugees as government will deal with them decisively.
The warning was sounded by Musa Ecweru, the State Minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness.
The minister was speaking at the celebrations to commemorate the World International Refugee day at Nakivale refugee resettlement camp in Isingiro district on Wednesday. He revealed that government is working hard to ensure that those disguising themselves as refugees are done away with.
"If you have come from Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and the rest of the countries, and you have not come because of being persecuted but because you want to cause problems to Uganda and harm refugees, I want to warn you today stop that nonsense," Ecweru said.
"While there are many people running away from fear and persecution, there are those who come posing as refugees but with intentions to undermine security in the country and wellbeing of refugees in Uganda, Government is going to deploy machinery to ensure the safety of all refugees in the country” he added.
At the same event, the Relief and Disaster Preparedness Minister, Hillary Onek, revealed that some countries he didn't disclose have been sending wrong elements to Uganda to kidnap or kill people who legally entered the country for business or as refugees.
"We are not taking this lightly. Some of these come, get documents as refugees and move back to get more instructions to come back and harm our people. We can't tolerate this, we have already arrested a few trying to do that," said Onek.
They are accused of illegally extraditing Lt. Joel Mutabazi, the former bodyguard of president, Paul Kagame. Mutabazi was arraigned in the military court in Rwanda, which handed him a life sentence for treason.
The development comes when some UPDF and police officers are facing similar charges of kidnapping foreigners, torturing and later repatriating them, while some have reportedly been murdered.
Currently, Uganda is home to more than 1,400,000
Refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, DRC, Eretria, Ethiopia and Kenya, spread in camps in Isingiro, Kyegegwa, Yumbe and Arua districts.