Kampala — SOMALI refugees in Nakivale last week walked away from a meeting addressed by the relief and disaster preparedness state minister Musa Ecweru, prompting the minister to issue a stern warning against indiscipline.

Echweru said if the refugees were indisciplined, they would be transported back to their countries.

The warning came minutes after Somali refugees walked away as the minister started to deliver his speech to a meeting of all refugees living in the area.

"How does a whole minister start delivering his speech and you just walk away like that? That is indiscipline we can not accept here," Ecweru said.

"When you are here, you must be disciplined. Those who are big-headed and do not want to respect us will be transported back to their troubled countries."

Nakivale hosts refugees mainly from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Ecweru also urged the refugees to respect each other's cultures and religions.

"You can be a Muslim, Christian or pagan, but when you are here, you are all Uganda's guests," he said.

Ecweru directed camp administrators to screen all the refugees to identify the undisciplined ones for repatriation.

He told Congolese refugees to "feel at home in Uganda" and send their children to school.

"I was one time like you when I was a refugee in Kenya, but you can see I am now a minister," he said.

He cited the example of the Rwandan President Paul Kagame who was once a refugee in Uganda, but returned home and became president.

Over 3,000 refugees from Congo are resettled in Nakivale following recent clashes between rebels of Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese Government.