Five Eritrean footballers who were participating in the regional CECAFA Under-20 Challenge Cup tournament have disappeared around Jinja, in eastern Uganda, according to a tournament official.
The players who went missing on Sunday are suspected to be attempting to seek asylum.
Rogers Mulindwa, the media manager for the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), said a search is underway to trace the players and confirmed that other members of the Eritrean squad are accounted for.
Eritrea has previously been banned from continental tournaments because its players have a history of running away.
In 2012, 18 Eritrean players claimed asylum in Uganda following a game there.
In 2007 and 2009, a total of 18 players fled while they were in Angola and Kenya respectively.
10 Eritrean footballers, who had refused to return home after a match against Botswana, in 2015 were granted asylum by the south African nation.
However, Eritrea was welcomed back into CECAFA in May this year following a six year ban due to tensions with Ethiopia over a war in 1998 to 2000.
A peace deal signed in July 2018 saw relations improve under Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Eritreans, who form one of the world’s largest group of refugees, regularly flee their strife-torn nation.
The Eritrean government has dismissed allegations that compulsory military service and human rights abuses force its citizens to flee.
