2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Israel said yesterday it would turn away refugees from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region but allow some 500 already in the country to remain, enforcing a policy aimed at halting illegal African migration via Egypt. Responding to a persistent flow of illegal migrants through its porous border with its southern neighbour, Israel handed over 48 Sudanese to authorities in Egypt late on Saturday, Egyptian security officials said. A government official said any Darfur refugee now caught at the border "would be returned to Egypt." Israel considers Sudanese refugees to be enemy nationals, partly because of Khartoum's hostility toward the Jewish state.