African migrants Being arrested, tortured, raped or killed is a risk many African migrants are willing to take to improve their quality of life. Thousands leave their homeland every year and go through Egypt in order to find a better life in Israel. Eleven African migrants were shot dead by Egyptian border guards, and 600 were arrested while they were attempting to infiltrate across Sinai peninsula into Israel; this is the toll of 2012 so far according to Egyptian official statistics, not too high if compared to the number of migrants who were arrested on the other side of the borders: more than 17,000 according to Israeli reports.
Although the possibility of being arrested or even shot by Egyptian border guard forces is relatively high, that is not what the African migrants fear the most through their risky trip to Israel: the Bedouin traffickers who lead them through the way are the bigger threat.
"I came all the way from my country, Ethiopia to Sinai on foot. It took me 23 days," Dicent Miguy said to Arabstoday.
Miguy is a single mother of one. She was told that she could find a suitable job and a decent life for herself and her child in Israel. After walking for 23 days in a row, her journey ended in an Egyptian jail in Ismailiya.
"I made a deal with a Bedouin trafficker. I paid him all the money I have and I was supposed to pay him more after I start working in Israel," she said.
"Throughout our journey, we were not even permitted to ask when and how we would reach our destination. Those who dared to ask were threatened to be killed. We did not get enough food or water. Once I was so thirsty I drank my child’s urine” she explained tearfully.
Miguy was arrested along with another 103 migrants who were discovered by the police on their way to Sinai.
Some migrants have been worse off than Miguy. Laguick Kdour, 27, from South Sudan was tortured; his back was burnt with a red-hot iron rod by Bedouin traffickers as he failed to pay his fees of $1000. His partner in the trip, Chatue, was shot dead in the desert.
African clandestine immigrants usually fly to Egypt. From there they often pay up to $2000 for Bedouin traffickers to transfer them to the border between Egypt and Israel. There have been cases of abuse against the female immigrants committed by the Bedouin traffickers, including rape and torture. They also risk being shot at by the Egyptian border guards when they get to the border.
According to Israeli reports, there was a significant increase in clandestine workers on the territory from 2005. In 2006, 1000 clandestine workers were arrested by the Israeli authorities. In the first seven months of 2010, 8000 were arrested. There is a greater number of illegal workers in Israel, but they have not been arrested. The immigrants mainly come from Sudan and Eritrea.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has announced a humanitarian crisis in Eritrea. The genocide in Darfur forced many people to flee to Egypt.
Added to those were refugees from South Sudan, where civil war took place between the predominantly Arab Muslim inhabitants of the north and the non-Arab, Christians and animist inhabitants of the south.