Rwanda and Uganda on Friday denied deal to take in African migrants from Israel under a scheme condemned by rights groups.
The Israeli government had on Wednesday issued a 90-day notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment.However, rights groups including Hotline for Refugees and Migrants have said Uganda and Rwanda had agreed to take in migrants from Israel in the past.
“Rwanda has no deal whatsoever with Israel to host any African migrant from that country,” Rwanda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said.
His Ugandan counterpart, Okello Oryem, re-echoed the message.
“There is no written agreement or any form of agreement between the government of Uganda and Israeli government to accept refugees from Israel.
“Any suggestion to the contrary was fake news absolute rubbish,’’ Oryem told Reuters.
The vast majority of migrants in Israel came from Eritrea and Sudan and came to Israel to seek asylum after fleeing persecution and conflict, but the authorities regard them as economic migrants.
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