The first group of the 2,000 Afghan refugees set to be hosted by Uganda has arrived in the country, the Ministry of foreign affairs has confirmed.

51 evacuees from Afghanistan arrived aboard a privately chartered flight from Kabul that landed at Entebbe International Airport early Wednesday.

“The evacuees who included men, women and children underwent the necessary security screening as well as mandatory COVID-19 testing and the required quarantine procedures,” a statement from the Ministry reads.

The 51 come days after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeje Odongo told members of Parliament that negotiations over the proposal for Uganda to host 2,000 Afghan refugees are still ongoing.

“No decision has been made, whether they will come or not. It’s a suggestion, a proposal; discussions are going on…no substantive decision has been made,” he emphasized.

Earlier this week, the Minister told CNN that Uganda expects the first group of refugees by the end of the week.

Ugandans in Afghanistan who were supposed to be on the same flight as the 51 Afghan refugees, were unable to make it due to the challenges of accessing the airport in Kabul.

“Arrangements are being made to bring them in the subsequent flight,” the statement reads.

Earlier this month, the State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Esther Anyakun Davinia said that Uganda is willing to take in 2,000 refugees who are fleeing renewed instability in Afghanistan.

Uganda is among the African countries that the US has courted to host the Afghan refugees after Taliban militants ousted Ashraf Ghani’s government. The Taliban were two decades ago deposed by American troops.

Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world -- nearly 1.5 million according to the United Nations, mainly from neighboring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.