Egyptian cops shoot Darfurian

2008-03-08 12:38

Ashraf Sweilam

El-Arish - Egyptian authorities shot and critically wounded a Darfurian man trying to sneak into Israel for work and detained eight other Africans in a pair of incidents on Saturday, a security and hospital officials said.

In one incident, seven kilometres south of the Rafah crossing point, border guards opened fire at a group of three Sudanese, which included a woman, after they ignored shots fired into the air, said a security official, speaking on condition of customary condition of anonymity.

Zakariya Moussa Abdullah, 24, was shot in the back and remains in critical condition at the El-Arish hospital after an operation to remove the bullet, said Imad Kharboush, head of the North Sinai's emergency unit.

Abdullah told The Associated Press from his hospital bed that he had run in fear upon first hearing the guards' warning shots, adding that he had hoped to find work in Israel.

The Sudanese had paid several thousands dollars to Egyptian traffickers to get them across the Rafah border, said the security official.

Job opportunities

In a separate incident, six Africans, including people from Darfur, Eritrea, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, were apprehended while trying to sneak into Israel near the southern al-Awja crossing.

Dozens of African migrants have been detained over the past year as they have tried to cross into Israel from the Sinai desert, and at least six have been killed this year by Egyptian border guards.

The Africans began trickling into Israel in 2005, after neighbouring Egypt quashed a demonstration by a group of Sudanese refugees and in recent months, the number has surged as word spread of job opportunities in Israel.

Israel last year asked Egypt to do more to stem the tide.

More than 7 000 African migrants have entered the Jewish state illegally in just over a year, including at least 2 000 since January, according to UN officials in Israel.

- AP