Israel Is Reportedly Sending Away Unwanted African migrants

Posted by: lukwago J in World news February 9, 2016

Israel has recieved a huge number of migrants and refugees, those who are fleeing from conflict areas in middle east and Africa, this around, it is reportedly sending away unwanted African migrants to other countries under secretive deals. Europe is also battling the issue and last year the EU proposed an ‘African trust fund’ to pay countries billions of dollars if they agree to take back their economic migrants.

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For nearly a year Israel has been offering African migrants cash and the chance to go and live in what is supposed to be a safe haven in a third country.

As an extra incentive, they’re given $3,500 (£2,435) in cash, handed over in the departure lounge of the airport in Tel Aviv. Israel refuses to name the two African countries but the BBC has spoken to migrants who say they were sent to Rwanda and Uganda.

One is Tesfay, an Eritrean who was flown to Rwanda in March 2015, and he told BBC that far from being offered legal status, a home and the chance of a job in Rwanda – as he had been promised in Israel – he became a victim of trafficking.

His identity papers, a travel document and a single-entry visa to Rwanda.

Both issued in Israel – were immediately confiscated at Kigali airport, he says!

Then, along with nine other Eritreans, he was taken to a “guest house”. None of them was allowed out. It would be dangerous without papers, they were told. Then, two days after arriving, the men were told it was time to leave.

You are going to Uganda, but before you go, you need to pay $150,” said a man who introduced himself as John. “Then from the border to Kampala you need to pay again.”

Crammed into a minibus, they made the six-hour journey to the Ugandan border, where they were told to get out of the bus. When we crossed the border, that’s when I understood that we were being smuggled,” Tesfay says. “We went on foot, silently, we were being smuggled from one state to another.”

As promised by “John”, they had to pay another $150 to continue their journey to the Ugandan capital, Kampala. But inevitably, having entered as illegal immigrants, they were arrested on arrival and put behind bars – after police had relieved them of about half the cash in their pockets, Tesfay says.

With what was left, Tesfay managed to post bail. He was due to appear in court five days later and having already been warned he was likely to be deported to Eritrea – the repressive authoritarian state he had fled in the first place – he decided to take no chances. He paid another smuggler to get him into Kenya, where he is now seeking asylum.

Source: BBC

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