Israel: the fate of Sudanese asylum seekers in question
Audio 01:23
Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers demonstrate in Tel Aviv on February 2, 2014, asking for help from the Israeli government (illustrative image).
Guilhem Delteil / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Sudan and Israel announced last Friday that they were starting negotiations to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Discussions should start with the trade and immigration issues.
Statements that feed the concern of just over 6,000 Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel who fear they will be forcibly repatriated.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Guilhem Delteil
Monim Haroun now lives in a moshav, a farming community, just outside Jerusalem.
This young thirty-something fled the violence in Darfur as a child and then lived in the Blue Nile region.
There, he got involved politically against the government of Omar al-Bashir.
“
They arrested my brother, they arrested a lot of my friends because they were looking for me.
I understood that I couldn't stay any longer.
So I left.
It was in 2012,
”says Monim Haroun.
When he arrived in Israel, like many of his compatriots, Monim Haroun spent several years in prison.
Sudanese who arrived illegally in the country are called "infiltrators" by the government.
And the leaders of the right do not hide their wish to use this agreement in negotiation to obtain the departure of at least part of this community.
What revolts Monim Haroun, "
is a complete denial of ethnic cleansing, of genocide targeting our families and ourselves
," he said.
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Also to listen: Migrants victims of the health crisis in Tel Aviv
Like more than 5,000 Sudanese, Anouar Souleiman has applied for asylum.
For 7 years, she has gone unanswered.
But this man from Darfur wants to be confident.
“
The agreement does not give Israel the right to fire me.
It would be contrary to Israeli law, to international law.
Because the reasons that make me fear for my life have not disappeared.
"
Support organizations for asylum seekers recall that Israel has an obligation to rule on requests for protection before it can consider deportation.
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Also read: Donald Trump announces the normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan
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Israel
Sudan
International Migration
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