Govt set to investigate the plight of Ugandan girls in Iraq

By Eve Masho

After weeks without the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pronouncing itself on what it was going to do for the nine Uganda girls, who were allegedly lured into slavery in Iraq, a top official has said investigations are underway.

Ambassador James Mugume told Sunday Monitor on Thursday that they are working with Uganda’s embassy in Saudi Arabia to recover the girls’ passports. “The government has decided to cooperate with the Saudi Arabian Mission to assist in carrying out all the necessary investigations concerning the alleged withdrawal of passports from the Ugandan girls who are stuck in Iraq,” said Ambassador Mugume.

The passports are still under Iraq’s authorities and it’s not clear where the passports are. This is dangerous because in the past criminals have used lost passports to carry out their fraudulent activities. A terrorist was recently arrested in the UK in connection with the same activities.

There is surprising general lack of information and interest of these people at the Immigration office in Kampala.
When contacted on Thursday, the Immigration Office publicist said their brief doesn’t include this. “Our mandate was to facilitate their travel. However the proper authority to handle this situation is the Foreign Affairs Ministry,” said Ms Eunice Kisembo.

The girls allege that a Kampala businesswoman, who owns the Uganda Veterans Development Limited, took them to Iraq to work as house helpers. A guard, who works in Iraq, and wanted to remain anonymous confirmed to Sunday Monitor last week that some girls were missing out of the forty that had arrived in Iraq.

The girls have been identified as Ms Shamim Namutebi, Ms Fatuma Ndagire, Ms Agnes Twesigye, Ms Brenda Nakanjako, Ms Amina Nakiwauka, Ms Saudah Kizito, Ms Hamidah Namatovu, Ms Razia Muhasa, Ms Zurah Nabukenya, Ms Jamila Musiime and Ms AineMbabazi.

The source, however, added: “The girls are currently detained at Siera Base in Baghdad and are under the hospice of US marines. The girls called me and told me that they have been tortured, sexually harassed and not been paid for the past six months by their Iraq bosses.”

In response to the above situation, the acting Charge d’Affaires, at the US Embassy in Kampala John Hoover, in an email to Sunday Monitor indicated that the nine women from Uganda presented themselves to the Coalition Forces in Iraq seeking temporary refuge and requesting assistance to be repatriated back to Uganda around July 4 to12.

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