1,000 More Misrata Evacuees Arrive in Benghazi
The IOM-chartered ship- the Red Star One- sailed this
morning into Benghazi with another group of 995 stranded migrant
workers and wounded civilians evacuated from the war-torn Libyan
city of Misrata.
The group, which boarded the IOM ship on Saturday morning,
includes 842 Niger nationals, nine other nationalities and 17
civilian casualties.
On board the Red Star One, the wounded were taken care
of by a specialised medical team of eleven, including personnel
from the International Medical Corps.
This fourth rotation brings to 4,100 the number of people
evacuated by IOM from Misrata since the beginning of the
humanitarian evacuation programme on 14 April.
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"">Libya Migration Crisis Website
Evacuees from Misrata have included 21 nationalities including
Egyptians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Indians, Dutch, Eritreans,
Iraqis, Filipinos, Ghanaians, Nigerians, nationals from Niger,
Chadians, Algerians, Sudanese, Tunisians and Ukrainians, as well as
wounded Libyans.
The migrants had been squatting in the open or in containers in
the port area, without proper access to food, clean water or
medical care. Many are weak and traumatised after many weeks of
fighting in Misrata
Although the number of migrants in and around the harbour in
Misrata is now believed to be around 1,500, there are reports of
more people moving from suburbs in the west of the city towards the
port area.
"We expect that many migrants who were hiding in sections of the
city formally under the control of Gaddafi's forces will make the
most of a temporary lull in the fighting to reach the harbour area
in the hope of being evacuated," says IOM's Representative for the
Middle East, Pasquale Lupoli.
IOM therefore plans to organise two more rotations between
Benghazi and Misrata.
A fifth rotation is planned for later today with some 200 tons
of food and medical supplies ready in Benghazi to be boarded on the
Red Star One.
"Funding received to date means we can continue the life saving
evacuation of desperate stranded migrant workers and wounded
civilians out of Misrata," says Mohammed Abdiker, IOM Director of
Operations.
Australia today joined the European Commission's Humanitarian
Aid and Civilian Protection Office (ECHO), the US State
Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM),
Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), Germany
and Ireland in funding IOM's humanitarian evacuation programme out
of Misrata.
The AUD 2.5 million is for the sea evacuation of a further 2,000
people from Misrata and for IOM's operations in response to the
Libya crisis.
"We are extremely grateful to receive funding for this life
saving operation, which constitutes the only life-line available to
those stranded in Misrata," says IOM Director General William Lacy
Swing. "However, more funding is urgently needed as IOM's
humanitarian evacuation programme has almost dried up."
As more evacuees arrive in Benghazi from Misrata, IOM faces
increased logistical challenges in providing adequate shelter, food
and water in Benghazi prior to moving them by road to the Egyptian
border at Sallum and then onto their final countries of destination
on commercial and charter flights.
Some 564,000 migrants have fled Libya since the beginning of the
crisis, including some 225,000 to Egypt, 265,000 to Tunisia, 50,000
to Niger, 14,000 to Algeria and more than 10,000 to Chad, where IOM
continues to face many challenges in providing assistance to
Chadian returnees who have arrived in the northern town of
Faya-Largeau.
IOM this week plans to organise 10 charter flights from Faya-
Largeau to the capital N'Djamena to assist weak and vulnerable
returnees who cannot be transported by road.
IOM appealed for US$160 million dollars for its response to the
Libyan crisis with much of the funding to provide evacuation
assistance from both inside and outside Libya.
The Organization has to date received US$65 million, which has
been spent on operations that have helped more than 117,000
migrants return to their home countries and evacuate many more from
inside Libya to Egypt and Tunisia.
For more information, please call:
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 79 285 43 66
Email:
"mailto:jpchauzy@iom.int">jpchauzy@iom.int