Sudan: Letting Their People Go

The exodus was cut short eleven weeks ago, when word of a secret Israeli airlift that had already taken thousands to Israel was leaked to the press. Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiri slammed the door shut because of pressure from Ethiopia's Marxist government and fellow Arabs, who accused him of cooperating with the Israelis. That left hundreds of Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas, stranded in Sudan after making the long trek to refugee camps there. Last week, however, in an operation coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency, about ten U.S. C-130 military transport planes flew into Sudan and took an estimated 900 Falashas to Israel for resettlement.

The secrecy surrounding the airlift was intense. Israeli censors prevented American journalists from describing details of the rescue, and in Washington a State Department official declared, "We have an absolute no comment on that." U.S. officials feared that publicizing the airlift would undermine any attempts to rescue Falashas remaining in Sudan or Ethiopia. It has been reported that Vice President George Bush, during a recent visit to Khartoum, persuaded Nimeiri to let the Falashas go.