Saturday, August 31, 2013
Uganda has denied it has struck a deal with Israel
to take in tens of thousands of African refugees, Foreign Ministry
officials said Saturday.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday that
Israel would finance the migrants' flights to Uganda and their
resettlement there, with each refugee apparently receiving $1,500 (1,135
euros).
But Ugandan foreign affairs ministry spokesman Elly Kamahungye denied the deal.
"Is not true, it is unfounded, false and misleading that we have such an agreement," Kamahungye told AFP.
"Uganda has a clear policy regarding refugees, on who
comes in and who leaves, in line with international law, so it cannot be
true in this case that we are receiving such people."
Haaretz had quoted Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saar
as telling a parliamentary committee this week that a senior Israeli
official had obtained Kampala's assent to the deal.
Israeli immigration authorities say there are about 55,000 illegal African migrants in the country.
Many came by foot through Egypt and slipping through the
formerly porous border into Israel, which is now being sealed by a
sophisticated system of walls and electronic fences.
Uganda meanwhile hosts some 200,000 refugees from
regional nations, including people fleeing conflict in neighboring
Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea,
Rwanda, Somalia and South Sudan.