From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Sep 16 2009 - 08:28:04 EDT
Egyptian police kill two Eritreans at Israel border Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:42am
GMT
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police shot dead two Eritrean migrants
trying to cross into Israel on Wednesday, bringing to 14 the number of
migrants killed in an upsurge of border violence since May, security forces
said.
Police on a routine patrol along Egypt's Sinai desert border with Israel saw
six migrants trying to cross a barbed wire fence that separates the two
countries, and ordered them to stop.
Police opened fire when the migrants ignored their orders to stop and fled
toward Israeli territory, first shooting into the air before firing at the
migrants, the security sources said. Two migrants were killed, and four
others wounded.
Police have stepped up efforts to control the sensitive border with the
Jewish state since May, ending a six-month lull in known fatalities as
authorities responded to what security sources say is an increased flow of
human traffic through Egypt.
Egypt's border with Israel is a main transit route for generally unarmed
African migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel, although
Egyptian police complain the smugglers who ferry the migrants to the border
region sometimes fire on security forces.
Egypt, which for years tolerated tens of thousands of African migrants on
its territory, is under Israeli pressure to halt the flow of migrants.
Egyptian authorities also say they are concerned the flow of migrants at its
Sinai border could pose a security threat in an area where Islamist
militants sometimes find refuge.
Analysts and aid workers say the flow of migrants from the Horn of Africa
through Egypt to Israel has increased in recent months as it has become more
difficult to travel on other northward routes, such as via Libya to Europe.
Eritreans are the single largest group of migrants attempting to cross into
Israel from Egypt, although Ethiopians and Sudanese also make the trek.
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