Since the Taliban took power, tens of thousands of Afghans have been fleeing their country. In Africa, Uganda and Rwanda have agreed to host them.

Two hundred and fifty (250) Afghan schoolgirls are expected to land in Kigali this week, according to both Afghan and Rwandan sources. The refugees are members of the only boarding school for girls in Afghanistan -the School of Leadership of Afghanistan (SOLA). They are moving with their families and several faculty members on a flight that transited through Qatar.

"Everyone is en route, by way of Qatar, to the nation of Rwanda where we intend to begin a semester abroad for our entire student body," Shabana Basij-Rasikh, founder of SOLA, said in a series of tweets.

“So many individuals played key roles in our departure, and while I can’t thank you all here, I want to publicly offer my gratitude to the governments of Qatar, Rwanda, and the United States for their critical assistance,” she tweeted.

The operation comes after the United States asked several of its international partners to welcome on their territory Afghan refugees in transit to Washington. In Africa, only Uganda and Rwanda have so far agreed. However, the two countries have not yet specified the modalities of these accommodations, nor their duration.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou