Amb. Simon Juac Deng, South Sudan Ambassador to Uganda speaks on Eye Radio's Dawn Show. June 21, 2023. | Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio

The governments of South Sudan and Uganda are in talks to repatriate nearly a hundred South Sudanese jailed in Kampala, the country’s ambassador in Kampala has said.

Simon Juac Deng, however, said the process of returning home will require an agreement between the two countries.

He said there are nearly 100 South Sudanese inmates in various prisons in Uganda – including Luzira, Gulu, Arua, and Koboko.

“We know that there are some South Sudanese in prisons, we wrote to Uganda prisons to give us a statistic of South Sudanese nationals in their prisons and they gave us, approximately about almost a hundred,” he said on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.

Ambassador Deng said the inmates have been convicted or detained for crimes such as robberies, and sexual abuse among others.

“We have already recommended extradition of South Sudanese prisoners in exchange for Ugandans, but there has to be a negotiation, an agreement between the two countries.”

“It is a whole government approach, both governments have to sign some understanding for this thing to happen.”

Uganda hosts the largest South Sudanese refugee population of 875,848, followed by Sudan with 808,336 as of March 2023.