Sudanese man shot at Egypt-Israel border / Egyptian police wound Sudanese refugee trying to pass into Israel, arrest another
Four stories (updated on Tuesday to add the ones from Reuters and VOA):
From AFP...
Egyptian police shot and wounded a Sudanese man on Monday, as he attempted to cross into Israel illegally from the Sinai Peninsula, a security source told AFP.
Usama Musa Abkar, 33, was shot in the leg as he and another Sudanese, Naji Mohammed Abkar, 28, tried to make the crossing south of the border town of Rafah.
It was the second shooting incident on the border in two days.
Abkar and his companion told police that they were heading to Israel in search of work. They said [that] they had paid local Bedouin smugglers to get them into Israel, the source said.
Police said [that] they ordered the men to stop, but were ignored. A shoot-out ensued between police and the Bedouin smugglers, who fled the scene when Abkar was shot.
The 250-kilometre (155-mile) Egypt-Israel border has become a major transit route for African migrants and asylum-seekers.
Dozens of Africans have been arrested in recent months, as Egyptian police try to halt the constant stream into Israel.
From the AP...
Egyptian police shot and wounded a Sudanese refugee as he tried to cross the border into Israel on Monday, arresting a second illegal migrant in the failed attempt, an Egyptian official said.
Police fired at Osama Moussa Abkar because he did not heed their warnings to stop, said Capt. Mohammed Badr, an officer with the Sinai Peninsula police force.
"He was wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment," Badr said. Police then arrested Naji Mohammad Ali Abkar, another Sudanese also trying to cross the border, he said.
The two men were smuggled in a truck by Bedouin tribesmen who dropped them some 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of the Rafah border crossing, he said.
Egypt's police have stepped up efforts to prevent human trafficking with Israel. On Sunday, border guards arrested 22 refugees who were seeking political asylum in Israel, police said. A woman from Sudan's wartorn Darfur region was killed in the incident, and four others, including a woman and a young girl, were critically injured by police fire.
Israel estimates that 2,800 people have entered the country illegally through its Sinai border in recent years, nearly all from Africa. The number shot up in the past two months, apparently as word spread of job opportunities in Israel. As many as 50 people arrived each day in June, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Egyptian authorities have long accused Sinai residents of smuggling weapons, drugs and people across the border into Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Many Sudanese find life difficult in Egypt, a country that struggles to provide jobs and social services for a growing refugee population. Egyptian riot police violently cleared a refugee encampment in central Cairo in 2005, killing nearly 30 people.
From Reuters...
Egyptian police opened fire on two Sudanese migrants trying to sneak across the border into Israel, injuring one, security sources said on Tuesday.
A security source told Reuters the men, accompanied by traffickers smuggling them across the border, were trying to cross the border south of the Rafah crossing on Monday, when they were spotted by border guards.
One of the traffickers opened fire at the police, and in the ensuing exchange of fire, one of the Sudanese, Osama Moussa Abqar, 33, was injured, the security source said.
Abqar was being treated in a hospital in North Sinai, while the other migrant, Nagy Mohamed Abqar, 28, had been arrested, the source added.
The shooting is the third in less than a month involving African migrants on the border with Israel, and came amid stepped up Egyptian efforts to block a surge of migrants from entering Israel, after rumours spread that the Jewish state would welcome them and give them work.
On Sunday, Egyptian police shot at a group of African migrants trying to enter Israel illegally, killing one woman and wounding four, including a child.
Last month, Egyptian authorities arrested 106 Sudanese trying to cross into Israel.
The migrants are drawn to Israel by reports of better living conditions and hopes of gaining asylum there, but are also keen to leave Egypt, where activists say they face persistent racism, abuse and economic marginalisation.
The Sinai Peninsula has long been host to Bedouin smuggling rings who will take people, weapons, or drugs and tobacco across the Egyptian frontier, into Israel or the Gaza Strip, for a price.
From VOA...
Egyptian police say [that] security forces shot and wounded a Sudanese refugee as he tried to illegally cross into Israel from Egypt.
Police say [that] the Sudanese man, Osama Moussa Abqar, had been smuggled into an area near the Rafah border crossing before security forces shot him [on] Monday. He is being treated in a hospital for his injuries. Police say [that] he was smuggled with another Sudanese man, who was arrested by Egyptian forces.
Egypt has stepped up security along the Egypt-Israel border [in order] to block a surge of migrants trying to cross into Israel, seeking asylum and better job opportunities.
On Sunday, border guards shot and killed a woman from Sudan's Darfur region as she tried to illegally enter Israel. Four other people, including a child, were wounded.
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