UBA, 19 June 2012 (IRIN) - The first batch of 700 South Sudanese have returned to Juba from Israel, as part of a policy to deport Africans and protect the state's Jewish identity. Israel and its military ally South Sudan, which gained independence in July 2011 after decades of civil war, both claim that the process has been one of "voluntary repatriation". While some among the first planeload of 124 people were very guarded about their feelings of returning to their new but still extremely impoverished nation, several people said the South Sudanese are being forced out.
