Egypt arrests two Sudanese attempting to cross into Israel

Mar 9, 2007 (RAFAH, Egypt) — Three Africans were arrested while trying to illegally cross from the southern Egyptian border city of Rafah into Israel to seek asylum, a police officer in the northern Sinai peninsula said on Friday.

Two Sudanese and one Malian were caught Thursday night about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Rafah, by the barbed wire on the Egypt-Israeli border, Capt. Mohammed Badr from northern Sinai police said.

The three sustained cuts from the barbed wire and bruises as they stumbled while the Egyptian guards chased after them. They were taken to the el-Arish hospital nearby for treatment, Badr said.

A number of Bedouins, who allegedly received US$3000 (A2,280) from the Africans to help them, fled the scene in a minivan, Badr added. The two Sudanese told the police they were seeking asylum and looking for jobs in Israel, Badr said.

The Africans will likely be deported to their home countries soon.

Human traffickers smuggle about 200 people from Egypt into Israel each year, according to the Israeli group Physicians for Human Rights. The U.S. State Department has said that Israel was not doing enough to stop human trafficking.

Egypt has long accused some of the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula of smuggling weapons, drugs and people into Israel and the Gaza Strip. Egypt and Israel frequently accuse one another of not doing enough to seal their border and prevent smuggling.

(AP)