KAMPALA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Friday said it is considering a request by Israel to host over 500 Eritrean and Sudanese refuges that will be relocated from the Middle East country.

Musa Ecweru, minister of state for disaster preparedness and refugees told reporters that the government is positively considering the request.

Ecweru dismissed reports that the government was receiving money in exchange for allowing the refugees to come in. He also said no refugees had already been received from Israel.

"We are slow but very sure on the issue of refugees that we host. To my knowledge, no refugees from Israel have come in yet," Ecweru said.

He said Uganda is already a host to thousands of refugees and therefore there was no problem having more that are going to be relocated from Israel.

Uganda had earlier denied talks with Israel to host some of the refugees they intend to send back to Africa.

Uganda is host to over 1.3 million refugees mainly from South Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees figures.