Israel plans to soon begin deporting migrants from Eritrea and Sudan, who number more than 50,000, back to the African continent via Uganda, officials said.
Israel regards most of these Africans as illegal visitors crowding impoverished areas in search of jobs, and largely rejects the position of human rights groups that many fled their countries in search of political asylum.
A statement late on Thursday from Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel would soon begin a staged process of deporting the migrants, most of whom crossed the border with neighbouring Egypt - Israel’s frontier with Africa - since 2006.
Sa’ar said an agreement had been reached with an African country other than Eritrea and Sudan to absorb these migrants who would soon be urged “to leave of their own free will.”
Michal Rozin, chairwoman of parliament’s committee on foreign workers, said by telephone that Uganda was the country that had agreed to absorb migrants who had settled in Israel.
Rozin, of the left-wing Meretz party that opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, said there were “rumours” that Uganda may have agreed to the arrangement in exchange for a deal for money and weapons.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Kampala.