Sudanese refugees face harsh passage from Egypt to Israel

Published: 2007-07-18

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Grace's eyes were cool and revealed no emotion as she described how she was kidnapped by a Muslim man as a young girl during the war in Sudan. "I would run away to the church for comfort, and he would be very angry," said Grace, a 24-year-old Catholic from southern Sudan and now the mother of three young girls. Grace -- who, like the other refugees interviewed, asked that her real name not be used for fear of reprisals -- was among a group of 45 Sudanese who camped in front of the Israeli parliament building in mid-July, seeking asylum from the Israeli government. Eight years ago she met her husband, Anthony, and the two escaped to Egypt, where she was reunited with a younger sister and her mother. Anthony had been left in the care of an uncle at the age of 11 after his parents and the rest of his family died in the war in southern Sudan. He said he left Sudan a few years later, once his friends started being kidnapped and killed. Grace said that "there is no hope in Sudan, and life in Egypt is very difficult."

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