(Ecofin Agency) - Germany recently suspended financing of $106 million in favour of Uganda, the German ambassador in the country Albrecht Conze revealed last week.

The funding should have been granted in the framework of a refugee support plan but, it was suspended due to a fraud case involving numerous Ugandan officials.

In 2018, an investigation launched by the United Nations revealed that some Ugandan officials had set a fraudulent scheme to increase the number of refugees in the country by about 300,000 persons. According to the UN, this was done in collusion with UNHCR officials and helped divert millions of US dollars initially destined to help refugees.

"We are not dispensing [funds] until we see that those who had been identified at the time are brought to justice, and they need to respond to the allegations that came up at the time," Conze said.

The UK included, Germany is the second country to withhold aid money from Uganda because of that fraud case. Currently, Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa with about 1.3 million refugees coming mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. To support these refugees, the government mainly counts on funds from international backers. In 2017, these backers provided close to $350 million to the country.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou