Egypt arrests 100 Eritreans headed for Israel

An Egyptian border policeman stands next to his
post on the Egyptian side of the border with Israel

04 May, 2008

CAIRO - Egyptian security forces have arrested 100 Eritrean migrants near a southern coastal resort who said they were heading to Israel in search of work, a security official said on Wednesday.

The Eritreans were detained on Monday south of the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, about half way between Cairo and Egypt's border with Sudan. In March, Egyptian security forces arrested 70 Eritrean migrants in the same area.

In recent months Egypt has arrested dozens of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, trying to sneak into Israel from the Sinai in search of work. Several have been killed while trying to cross the frontier.

Egyptian police on Wednesday shot and seriously wounded a Sudanese and a Ghanean man who refused to obey orders to stop as they tried to cross the border. Last Thursday, police shot dead an Eritrean man in the same area.

The 250-kilometre (155-mile) Egyptian-Israeli border has become a major transit route for migrants and asylum-seekers. -AFP