The Minister for Refugees and Disaster Preparedness, Gen Marcel Gatsinzi, has said he will soon meet Ugandan officials to discuss issues concerning Rwandans who fled to Uganda claiming ‘political persecution.’

Over 1,312 Rwandan refugees fled to Uganda between April and March this year and were denied refugee status most of them hailing from the Eastern Province.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Gatsinzi said that he will travel to Uganda with local leaders of the areas where the refugees came from to discuss the issue.

"Our meeting with the Ugandans will take place on either Wednesday or Thursday and we will discuss the issue extensively,” said Gatsinzi adding that the meeting will be held in the western Ugandan town of Mbarara.

"They are telling many lies against the government in order to get refugee status, but we will solve the matter soon and we expect them to return home because there is no persecution as they claim.”

Speaking to the Ugandan press last week, Douglas Assimwe, a senior refugee protection officer in Uganda’s Office of Prime Minister, said that these refugees were denied refugee status because they did not qualify for it.

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