Egypt’s police kill Darfuri woman trying to enter Israel

July 22, 2007 (RAFAH, Egypt) — A Sudanese woman was shot dead by Egyptian police on Sunday as she and a group of African migrants tried to cross illegally into Israel from Egypt, a security source told AFP.

Hadda Abbas Harun, 28, from the war-torn Darfur region was killed instantly near the border town of Rafah in the Sinai peninsula after police fired live rounds to prevent the group of 27 from reaching the border, the source said.

Police said they had ordered the group — which included Sudanese, Eritrean and Ivory Coast nationals — to stop, but were ignored. They said the shots were fired into the air, the security source said.

Four Darfuris were also wounded in the shooting and taken to hospital, the source added.

The Egypt-Israel border has become a major transit route for African migrants and asylum-seekers.

Earlier this month, a Darfuri man was shot and wounded by Egyptian police as he and dozens of others tried to make the illegal desert crossing.

Israel has said it would return all those entering illegally from Egypt along the 250-kilometre (155-mile) border between the two neighbours which are bound by a 1979 peace treaty.

But Israel also said it would consider assisting “a small number” of refugees from the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which is in the grip of a civil war.

According to UN figures, some 1,200 Sudanese refugees are currently in Israel, including 300 from Darfur.

(AFP)