‘The Route is Shut’: Eritreans Trapped by Egypt’s Smuggling Crackdown
Since Egyptian authorities cracked down on people smuggling last year, the Eritrean population in Cairo has swelled. As the E.U. heaps praise on Egypt’s migration control measures, Eric Reidy examines their consequences for a vulnerable community.
In comparison, around 11,000 of the more than 180,000 people who made the journey to Italy last year set out from Egypt. Following a crackdown on clandestine migration by Egyptian authorities this year, that number has dropped to fewer than 1,000.
Last September, an estimated 300 people drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Alexandria, making it one of the biggest single tragedies in a year with a record-breaking 5,143 migrant and refugee deaths in the Mediterranean. The majority of the victims were Egyptians, and the incident galvanized support for a crackdown on people smuggling in Egypt.
▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2017/08/01/the-route-is-shut-eritreans-trapped-by-egypts-smuggling-crackdown
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