The government of South Sudan on Thursday strongly denied reports of any agreement with Israel to resettle Palestinians on its territory.
At a press conference in Juba, Philip Jada Natana, Director General for Bilateral Relations, acknowledged the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Israel, but clarified that it focused solely on cooperation in agriculture, investment, and mining.
“There has never been any discussion about resettling Palestinians in South Sudan,” he said, responding to earlier reports in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth that Israel had held talks with South Sudan and other African countries as part of a plan to transfer Palestinians from Gaza.
The newspaper also reported that Israel’s foreign ministry had transferred funds to an Israeli NGO operating in South Sudan.
This is not the first time Juba has dismissed such claims: in August, the government issued a similar statement, describing the reports as “baseless.”
