Uganda looks at Israel’s migrants

TALKS AROUND HOUSING 500 REFUGEES Envoy is believed to be in an African country finalising a deportation deal.

Uganda is considering a request from Israel to take in 500 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan, the first time the East African nation has acknowledged it is in talks over such a deal.

“The State of Israel working with other refugees’ managing organisations has requested Uganda to allow about 500 Eritreans and Sudanese to relocate to Uganda. The government and ministry are positively considering the request,” Musa Ecweru, minister of state for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, said in a statement.

About 4 000 migrants have left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda since 2013 under a voluntary programme but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from his right-wing voter base to expel thousands more.

In January, Israel started handing out notices to male migrants from Eritrea and Sudan, giving them three months to take the voluntary deal with a plane ticket and $3 500 (about R42 000) or risk being thrown in jail.

The government said from this month it would start forced deportations but rights groups challenged the move and Israel’s Supreme Court has issued a temporary injunction to give more time for the petitioners to argue against the plan.

Government representatives told the court earlier this week that an envoy was in an African country finalising a deportation deal after an arrangement with Rwanda to take migrants expelled under the new measures fell through.

Until yesterday’s statement, Ugandan officials had denied to Reuters that their government was in talks with Israel to resettle migrants.

Ecweru said “all refugees the world over” should be “voluntarily repatriated with strict observance and adherence to international law”, but did not give further details on the possible deal.