CAIRO: The United Nations refugee agency has urged the Egyptian government to assist in helping to secure the release of Eritreans allegedly abducted for the past month by traffickers in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. We are, at this time, in contact with the Egyptian Government over this matter,” Adrian Edwards, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “Egypt's Ministry of Interior has assured us that around the clock efforts are underway to locate the hostages and release them.” According to rights activists in Eritrea, over 200 Eritrean Christians have been held hostage by smugglers on the Egyptian-Israeli border for the past month. Bikya Masr could not substantiate the claims and the Egyptian foreign ministry said they had no comment on the situation. Bos News Life (BNL) Middle East and African Services published a report that said that Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a religious rights group, cited investigators as saying that smugglers are demanding payment of $8,000 per refugee before releasing them. The organization said that as a result of crack downs in Eritrea, many Christians are looking for a new start in another country. Israel has become the main country where African migrants attempt to enter. Eritrean officials have arrested thousands of Christians, holding them inside metal shipping containers, barracks and underground dungeons where at least several have died from torture and other harsh conditions. “Most of them are believed to be evangelical Christians as Eritrea only recognizes four religious groups including Islam, the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea. However, even members of recognized religions haven't escaped persecution, according to church observers,” the report stated. The report said the refugees hold up at the Egypt-Israel border are among 600 Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese nationals being held “in degrading conditions in the Sinai desert.” “They are being threatened, restrained with chains around their ankles, and at one stage were denied water to clean themselves for 20 days. The refugees reportedly set off from Tripoli in Libya for Israel, having paid $2,000 to people smugglers,” it added. BNL noted that the exploitation of asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa by people traffickers is an ongoing problem and that in August, the deaths of six Eritreans on the Egypt-Israel border were reported, four of whom were killed in a dispute with people smugglers. BM
