Ugandan faith leaders weigh idea of accepting Israel's African refugees
Israel's government has offered financial incentives for thousands of asylum seekers to leave the country voluntarily—threatening to detain or deport them if they didn't.
Some Ugandan faith leaders say their nation should accept African refugees facing deportation from Israel, while others counter that resettlement would place too heavy a burden on already overtaxed refugee programs.
Until early April, Uganda and Rwanda had been widely viewed as the two African countries that would absorb the refugees in a deal with Israel’s government, which has asserted that about 40,000 African refugees live in Israel illegally and should be deported. Ugandan officials had spoken positively of the possibility of accepting refugees from Israel. But officials from both Uganda and Rwanda have denied that they struck a deal with Israel.
Ugandan clergy are nevertheless considering that at least some of the African refugees in Israel may wind up in their country. Many say these refugees—many of whom have arrived in Israel since the mid-2000s, trekking across the Sinai desert after fleeing violence and repression in Eritrea, Sudan, and other countries—should be welcomed in Uganda.
