Uganda: Somalis rush to register

By Patrick Jaramogi

HUNDREDS of Somali nationals yesterday flocked Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb, for registration.

The registration, being conducted by the Somali community association in Uganda and security agencies, will ensure that all Somali nationals residing in Uganda get new identity cards.

“The number of Somalis who have responded to the call for registration is overwhelming. We have been busy since morning,” Roble Abdulayi, the community vice-chairperson, said.

The nationals are each required to present two passport photos, indicate their jobs, the number of dependants they have, their area of residence and landlords details.

The registration comes at a time when al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia issued threats to attack Kampala and Bujumbura, Burundi, in revenge for rocket attacks that killed at least 30 people in Mogadishu on Thursday.

Since the terror threats, security has been beefed up in Kisenyi and most parts of Kampala city.

The New Vision yesterday established that following the rampant attacks by Islamists in Somala’s capital Mogadishu, the number of Somalis migrating to Uganda is at least 300 every week.

“I have been at the airport to receive some Somalis. We get about three flights from Mogadishu via Nairobi every week and each flight brings between 40-50 Somalis,” said Hussein Hassan, Somali chairperson.

He said between 20-30 Somalis enter Uganda through the various border points at Malaba, Busia, Sofia and Lwakaka.

President Yoweri Museveni last week warned the Islamist rebels against attacking Uganda.

“I would advise them to concentrate on solving their own problems. If they decide to attack us, they will pay heavily,” he told journalists at the end of the African Union summit in Kampala.

He warned that Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia would attack the rebels if they acted on their threat.

The rebel group, which wants to topple the Somalia government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law, is accused of being al Qaeda’s proxy.

Burundi and Uganda have about 4,300 peacekeepers in Mogadishu as part of the African Union peace-keeping force, dubbed AMISOM.

Several African nations had agreed to send troops for AMISOM but have so far failed to do so, some saying they have been put off by the violence.