Egyptian security kill Eritrean on Israel border

Egypt has sought to assure Israel it is preventing Africans using their
country as a transit to enter Israeli territory.

A young Eritrean migrant was killed by Egyptian security forces early Sunday as he attempted to cross the Sinai border with Israel, security officials said.

The body of Ayoub Kabaki, 25, was taken to Rafah hospital.

Security officials said he was shot when he failed to respond to calls to surrender while approaching the border.

Another 26 Africans were detained by security forces on Sunday morning and transferred to El-Arish prison. Security sources said the group told investigators they paid $1,000 to be smuggled into Israel.

Egypt has sought to assure Israel it is preventing Africans from using their country as a transit to enter Israeli territory via the porous Sinai border.

Israel has cracked down on Africans in the country, jailing and deporting communities from South Sudan and the Ivory Coast and pledging to do the same for people from Sudan and Eritrea.

A group of Africans camped out on Israel's border with Egypt for almost a week until Israel announced it would turn away 17 and admit three on Thursday.

Israel says most migrants are job-seekers and will upset the Jewish majority in Israel. Humanitarian organizations say the majority are refugees fleeing war-torn countries.

Some Israelis have been troubled that their country, founded by war refugees and immigrants, should be packing off foreigners en masse.

‘A Stand in the Sinai’: A CNN Freedom Project Documentary

• Follow-up to CNN’s award-winning documentary ‘Death in the Desert’ which uncovered the shocking trade of organ trafficking in the Sinai Desert
• Progress discovered in Sinai Peninsula since last year’s original
  

TX: Friday 21 September at 2130 BST

African refugees, mostly from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, face a dangerous journey crossing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as they seek a better life in Israel.
As reported in last year’s award-winning CNN Freedom Project documentary ‘Death in the Desert’, the reality that awaits these migrants is often slavery, rape, imprisonment and torture.
In ‘Death in the Desert’, CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen uncovered evidence that many of these refugees trying to reach Israel had fallen into the hands of human traffickers in the Sinai. These traffickers then tortured the refugees, and in some cases harvested their organs for sale on the black market, leaving many of their victims to die.
In 2012, in ‘A Stand in the Sinai: A CNN Freedom Project Documentary’, Pleitgen returns to the Sinai and finds a different reality now awaits the constant flow of African refugees. He speaks to Bedouin tribal leaders who say they are now working to battle human trafficking in the region, offering medical support and safe havens for these refugees.
Bedouin Sheikh Mohammed Abu Billal tells Pleitgen these refugees usually come to him with “signs of torture and rape, dressed in rags and starved…methods of oppression to exploit them for money. The burden is heavy on me, but it is a responsibility called upon us by Islam…that is why I spend my money to harbour them and bring happiness to their hearts at any cost,” says Sheikh Mohammed.
“When the CNN Freedom Project first discovered the atrocities taking place in the Sinai, it was not enough to do a standalone report,” says Tony Maddox, Executive vice president and managing director of CNN International. “Fred’s continued commitment to this story speaks to the Freedom Project’s core mission: that is to uncover stories of modern-day slavery, bring them to light, raise awareness and hopefully contribute to effective change.”
Earlier this year, the U.S.-based Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. recognised ‘Death in the Desert’ with the prestigious Tom Renner Award for its investigative coverage of organised crime or other criminal acts, citing the CNN team’s “great personal risk in crossing the dangerous badlands of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to expose a network of human trafficking and organ sales.”

Israel to admit 3 Eritrean refugees stranded at border

Israeli officials said they would take in only two women and a teenager for humanitarian reasons and that the rest of the group would be removed from the fence area and taken to Cairo by Egyptian authorities.
"It is important that everyone understands that Israel is no longer a destination for infiltrators," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Government officials said the refugees agreed to the arrangement, but representatives for the group could not be reached to verify the statement. The Israeli military has prevented aid groups and activists from reaching the Eritreans to provide food, medical care and legal assistance.
Activists criticized the arrangement, saying that refugees previously returned to Egypt had been mistreated by authorities there.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli human rights group We Are Refugees petitioned the Supreme Court to order the Israeli government to assist all of the refugees, contending that leaving them at the fence was a violation of international law and Israel's obligation as a signatory to the U.N. refugee convention.
Aid groups say the Eritreans had run out of food and water, were suffering under the desert sun and were afraid to turn back to Egypt because of Bedouin gangs of human traffickers in the Sinai who routinely rob, kidnap and kill African refugees trying to make their way to Israel to start new lives.
"These people are suffering behind a fence," said Orit Marom, a coordinator for the Tel Aviv-based Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel. "But Israel does not let them in. It's crazy. It reminds [the Jewish people] of a very bad period in our own history."
Government officials refused to allow in the entire group, saying they were worried about setting a precedent that would encourage other African refugees to attempt to enter Israel. Since 2006, more than 60,000 African refugees, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, have flooded into Israel via the Sinai peninsula, according to the government.
Initially the military said it gave the Eritreans only water, but government attorneys told the court Thursday — before the reported agreement was reached — that authorities would start providing food.
William Tall, senior protection officer in Israel with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, called Israel's actions "exaggerated and irrational."
Tall noted that even though the refugees were blocked by the fence, Israel had acknowledged that the group was on Israeli territory because the fence was built on Israel's side of the border.

An Israeli soldier hands water to one of the African refugees stranded at… (Yehuda Lahiani)

"They are on Israeli territory and asking for asylum," Tall said. "It's absolutely clear that Israel has an obligation to review their asylum claims."
The government disagreed, saying it has no legal obligation because under international practice and precedent, the fence should be considered the de facto border in this situation.
"Technically the land may be sovereign Israeli territory, but legally the fence constitutes the border," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
He said Israel does not want to set a precedent under which it assists all refugees who make it to the fence.
"Where does it stop?" he asked. "You have to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise the fence is meaningless."
The standoff is the latest controversy in Israel's effort to cope with a surge in African refugees, who view Israel as the closest wealthy and democratic nation they can reach on foot.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai this summer began deporting hundreds of South Sudanese who fled violence in their homeland. He also ordered the detention of hundreds of others.
Israeli officials say the refugees, along with migrant workers and other foreigners, pose a threat to the nation's economy and Jewish majority. Many foreigners in recent months have been subjected to a violent backlash, including beatings and firebombs thrown at their homes.
Israel also sped up construction of the 150-mile fence along the Egyptian border. The crackdown appears to have slowed the influx. The number of refugees crossing the border fell from 2,000 a month at its peak last year to 200 in August, the government says.

Missing relatives

I would like to ask some questions about the family Micallef, originally from Malta. The name we are tracing is Rogiero Antonio Micallef. During the Italian colonial period, Mr Micallef left Malta for the port of Massawa, Eritrea. He lived in Massawa for a while and then went to Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea. It is not known how long he lived in Asmara.

After a while he went to live in Keren where he met an Eritrean woman and married her; he had six children from that marriage. The name of his wife was Bekita Drar and it was also sometimes referred to as Leteiyesus Drar. The last name was her Catholic name.
His children were Rosina Micallef, Carmella Micallef, Angelica Micallef, Antonio Micallef, Ernesto Micallef and Mathilde Micallef. His grandchildren are Michael Antonio Micallef, Vitorio Antonio Micallef, Augostino Antonio Micallef, Andrea Antonio Micallef, Mario Antonio Micallef, Anna Antonio Micallef, Ellena Antoni Micallef, Santina Antonio Micallef and Roma Antoni Micallef.
The grandchildren of Ernesto are Guissepe Ernesto Micallef, Salvatore Ernesto Micallef, Stefano Ernesto Micallef, Maria Ernesto Micallef and Margareta Antoni Micallef. The rest of his children had no grandchildren. His children were Italian nationals and are registered as Catholics in the Catholic church of St Antonio di Padova in Keren.
Mr Micallef worked as a gardener in Keren where he was also an interpreter. In 1940-1941 war broke out between Italy and Britain. The British defeated the Italians and ruled Eritrea for 10 years. Then the Eritreans asked their freedom but instead of that Eritrea was merged with Ethiopia. The Eritreans fought for their independence for 30 years and won it in 1991.
The family Micallef would like to know more about their families in Malta. Our contact details are as follows: Saint Anthony Catholic Parish Church, P.O. Box 30, Keren, Eritrea. Tel: 00291 1 402630 or 00291 1 401044; Fax: 00291 1 402630.

Time Is Running Out for Eritrean Journalists Held in Communicado for Over Decade, Says IFJ

Fear is mounting over the fate of a group of Eritrean journalists who have been held without charges since 2001, following the regime's clampdown on independent media. The International Federation of Journalists (IF), which has from the beginning campaigned for their release, today called on the Eritrean government to disclose information about their situation amid reports that some have died.
"These journalists have been denied justice by the regime's unconscionable disregard for their fundamental rights," said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. "Now their very lives are at risk and time is running out to save them. The authorities must disclose their whereabouts and state of health."
The IFJ says the Eritrean authorities have resisted previous calls for the journalists' release, denying even requests to provide information about their conditions of detention and to allow family visits. In 2007, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights found Eritrea in breach of the journalists' rights and ordered their release or a speedy trial and fair trial but the government failed to comply with the ruling.
The Federation estimates that at least 18 journalists have been detained without charges since the Eritrean government imposed a ban on independent media in September 2001. They include Zemenfes Haile, founder and manager of independent weekly Tsigenay, his editor-in-chief Yosef Mohamed Ali and reporter Ghebrehiwet Keleta, Selamyinghes Beyene, reporter for MeQaleh, Binyam Haile of Haddas Eritre, Seyoum Tsehaye, freelance and former Director of Eritrean State Television (ETV), Temesgen Gebreyesus of Keste Debena, Mattewos Habteab (MeQaleh), Dawit Habtemicheal (MeQaleh), Medhanie Haile, editor-in-chief (Keste Debena), Fessahye Yohannes, editor-in-chief of Setit, Said Abdulkadir, chief editor of Admas, Amanuel Asrat, chief editor of Zemen, Amanuel Asrat (Zemen) and Dawit Isaac, a dual Eritrean and Swedish national. He had returned to his native Eritrea after independence and helped launch the country's first independent newspaper, Setit. Dawit was briefly released in 2005 but re-arrested and there has been no official information on the journalists' situation.

Dawit Isaak,  left Sweden for Eritrea to help build the country's independent press

This week in Swedish, an online campaign '4000 days' is being organised on social media, Facebook and on Twitter '#fourthousand', to mark the 4000 days he and his colleagues have spent in detention.
Recent reports have claimed that some of the detainees have died after the Eritrean officials acknowledged earlier this year that some of the journalists had died in detention but refused to give names.
"These reports will understandably add to the anguish and distress of the journalists' families and colleagues," added Beth Costa, IFJ General Secretary. "This may be the last chance to save Isaac and his colleagues and we must pile on the pressure on Eritrea to release them."