Some 48 asylum seekers, including children and teenage girls, are stranded in dire humanitarian conditions at the Elegu Refugee Reception Centre in Amuru District at the Uganda-South Sudan border.
This comes as a result of a government directive suspending the admission of new asylum seekers through major border points over fears of Ebola disease that broke out in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last month.
The asylum seekers, comprising 16 Sudanese and 32 South Sudanese nationals, have since last week been confined under a mandatory 21-day quarantine at the busy Uganda-South Sudan border crossing.
In a June 2nd 2026 directive, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) halted the entry of new asylum seekers entering Uganda through 28 high-risk districts bordering DRC and South Sudan.
Although Amuru District was initially not among the listed districts, Favour fm learned that a fresh directive was formally communicated to district authorities on June 12 ordering an immediate suspension of asylum admissions through the Elegu border point.
Pauline Irene Abina, the Refugee Desk Officer in Adjumani District in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) confirms the presence of the asylum seekers at the Elegu Refugee Reception Center.
According to Abina, authorities found themselves in a dilemma after the June 12 directive was implemented while the asylum seekers were already at the reception center awaiting processing.
Geofrey Osborn Oceng, the Amuru Resident District Commission who also doubles as the district Ebola taskforce Chairperson has tasked the OPM to fulfill its mandates in providing food ratio to the assylum seekers who are currently sleeping hungry. Uganda currently hosts over two million refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from South Sudan, the DRC and Sudan, making it Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country according to the latest data from the OPM and the UNHCR.
By URN
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