08/15/2025
Article from Dr. Aldo Ajou Deng Akuei about relocation of Palestinian refugees to South Sudan.
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Exporting Palestinians to South Sudan is Exporting Terrorism to South Sudan
By Dr. Aldo Ajou Deng-Akuey (PhD)
Member of the National Legislature (Council of States)1
Introduction: We Know This History Too Well
South Sudanese people do not need a lecture on Arab hegemony; we lived it.
For centuries, the Arab slave trade hunted African lives from Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria and to Upper Nile. In modern times, Khartoum’s Pan-Arabisation project tried to erase our identity, language, and culture. It was Egypt’s political export, a mission to make Sudan an Arab state from the desert to the swamps.
We fought a 50-year war (1955 to 2005), not only for independence, but to end foreign domination of our culture and our lives. Even in the Six-Day War of 1967, when the Sudanese government wanted to join the Arab states against Israel, in parliament, African Sudanese, Christian and Muslim alike, said NO. We refused to be dragged into wars of Arab identity politics.
Now, new reports are circulating: secret diplomatic exchanges between South Sudan, Israel, and the United States — with Donald Trump said to be pulling strings — about relocating Palestinians from Gaza to African countries, including South Sudan.
Let’s be clear: If this is true, it is not just a bad idea. It is dangerous for our security, for our unity, and for our future.
Why This Plan is a Threat
1. We’ve Seen This Terror Before
Radical Islamist terrorism in Africa has Arab fingerprints all over it:
• Somalia – Al-Shabaab.
• Nigeria – Boko Haram.
• Sudan – The same Khartoum that hosted Osama bin Laden and Palestinians-Amas in particular.
• Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania – All tied to exporting jihadist ideology into Africa.
When radicalised Arabs come, they do not come quietly. They come with ideology, revenge, and networks. They can kill Israeli diplomats or investors right here in Juba, just to make a political statement.
2. It Reopens Old Wounds
We did not break free from Khartoum just to accept a new wave of imported Arab politics. We suffered Pan-Arabisation once. We cannot afford to import it again through the back door.
3. It Risks Our Sovereignty
If this deal is signed in secret, it tells the world South Sudan can be used as a dumping ground for other people’s conflicts. That is not independence; it is servitude.
A Message to Our Leaders
We are not against humanitarian help. If a Palestinian mother and her children run for safety, our African hearts will open. But we will not accept a forced mass relocation planned in foreign capitals.
Before anything is agreed, the people of South Sudan must be consulted:
• Parliament must debate it.
• Civil society must speak.
• Churches and mosques must weigh in.
• Security forces must assess the risks.
We are not a silent people. Our constitution belongs to us.
Where We Should Stand
• Support Israel’s right to self-defence; but also demand both Israel and Palestine return to the two-state solution promised since Camp David.
• Reject any plan to exile Palestinians to South Sudan as a political settlement.
• Accept only voluntary humanitarian refugees, fully vetted, in numbers we can sustain, and never at the cost of our national security.
Conclusion: Not in Our Land, Not in Our Lifetime.
Exporting Palestinians to South Sudan is not a peace plan. It is a security time bomb. It will import the same radical Arab terrorism that has bled Africa from Somalia to Nigeria. It will reopen the wounds of Arab domination that we fought so hard to close.
Our message is simple: South Sudan is not a pawn on the Middle East chessboard. We will not trade our sovereignty for diplomatic favours. We will stand for peace; but we will stand for it on our terms.
NB: The author is a PhD holder in history, MA in international law and diplomacy, with 58 years experience in parliamentary legislation and government-Sudan and South Sudan (1967-2025). This article is his personal opinion on ongoing diplomatic encounter between Isreal and South Sudan.
Photo: Dr. Aldo Ajou Deng-Akuey
A warning from one of your elders.
