Cairo
10 March 2008
Egyptian authorities have shot a Sudanese man trying to cross into Israel, one of several Africans killed this year by Egyptian border patrolmen for trying to enter Israel illegally. Reporter Aya Batrawy has more from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.
News reports say Egyptian police killed a 23-year-old Sudanese man trying to enter Israel with eight other African migrants.
This is the seventh killing this year of an African migrant by Egyptian police on the border with Israel, according to the London-based human rights group Amnesty International.
In a separate incident, Egyptian authorities shot at another group of African migrants trying to enter Israel illegally, seriously wounding an Eritrean. Police reportedly arrested seven Eritreans and an Ethiopian.
This follows an incident that took place on Saturday when Egyptian police shot and wounded another Sudanese refugee attempting to cross the border.
The problem has been growing, with more than 7,000 African migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers having illegally entered into Israel in the past year, according to U.N. officials.
Israel has put pressure on Egypt to stem the flow of migrants crossing illegally.
Said Haddadi of Amnesty International said despite Israeli pressure on Egypt, Egyptian security forces must abide by international law and only shoot when there is no other option or in self-defense. He also said the Egyptian government must investigate these killings and send police to the border who have the necessary training to deal with border control.
"There have been shootings from the Israeli side in the past and Amnesty International has called for the Israeli authorities to investigate these shootings," Haddadi said. "What we have at the moment is a continuing increase in the Egyptian authorities' killings of people trying to cross the border into Israel and the problem is that we have not seen any indication of investigations taking place from the Egyptian authorities into these killings."
Some of the African migrants trying to sneak into Israel are helped by Egyptian traffickers who are paid thousands of dollars to help them cross the border. The migrants, who are from countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Guinea have fled their homes or refugee camps in search of a better life in the Jewish state. According to Israel, about 300 people try to illegally cross into Israel every week.
As a result, Israel is considering plans to build a fence along the 250-kilometer border with Egypt.