Israel to fly more Sudanese migrants back to Africa

A flight carrying more than 100 Sudanese infiltrators is expected to depart from Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday night en route to an unnamed country, from which the refugees will continue to their homeland.

A third of the migrants who are scheduled to be aboard the fight are children. "We are going back frustrated," one Sudanese refugee said, adding that the group agreed to leave Israel for fear of imprisonment.

The Interior Ministry said the infiltrators are leaving "of their own volition."

The Sudanese refugees said Israeli officials have tried to convince them they are returning to a "more rose-colored reality." Some of the refugees were even given driving lessons ahead of their return home.

In a recent referendum, southern Sudan's residents voted to succeed from the north, which is ruled by dictator Omar al-Bashir.

One of the migrants, whose wife and two children will board the plane en route to Africa, said he was not sending them home out of patriotism. "My employer fired me when he discovered I was working illegally. I'll stay here and try to find work so I can send them money. My children don’t have anything to do here in Israel," he said.

About two months ago 150 Sudanese infiltrators, including 49 children, returned to Africa on the third such flight in 2010.

The operation was organized by the Christian Embassy in cooperation with the Prime Minister's Office, Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry.

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