Charter planes being provided to IOM by the British government's
Department for International Development (DFID) and UNHCR will
allow the Organization to evacuate up to 8,800 Egyptian migrants
from Djerba in Tunisia to the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The first flights will take off today.

The in-kind assistance will help to ease some of the enormous
pressure at the Tunisian-Libyan border where in nine days more than
75,000 migrants had fled across the border from Libya and many tens
of thousands more stranded on the Libyan side.

With Egyptians representing by far the largest group of migrants
who have streamed across the border and unable to go further, the
additional charter flights will enable IOM to significantly step up
its evacuation efforts.

DFID's contribution will enable IOM to assist up to 6,000
Egyptian migrants to return home from the Tunisian island of Djerba
in the next few days. This is being supplemented by a donation of
£500,000 to help pay for the staffing and processing costs
related to the operation.

UNHCR is providing IOM 16 charter flights.

So far, IOM has evacuated more than 2,400 migrants by air from
Tunisia and another 1,450 by sea – of which 2,700 left on 1st
March. From Egypt, the Organization has helped 216 non-Egyptian
migrants to return home with another 370 due to leave shortly.
These include Bangladeshis, Ghanaians and Filipinos.

Funding from the US government of US$ 2 million and $500,000
from the Swiss government in response to an IOM appeal last week
will also allow the Organization to provide both evacuation,
repatriation and humanitarian assistance to migrants of many
nationalities in Tunisia, Egypt, Niger and ultimately from inside
Libya.

However, with massively increasing numbers of migrants arriving
in countries neighbouring Libya, and with insufficient means to
assist, much more funding is needed. IOM and UNHCR yesterday issued
a joint appeal for funds and logistical assistance that would
enable the evacuation of many tens of thousands of migrants
stranded in Egypt, Tunisia, from inside Libya and migrants now
stranded in several other countries.

"A rapid and large scale response by the international community
is urgently needed. So many thousands of people, many traumatized
by what has happened to them, are in need of shelter, food water
and medical assistance as well as help to return home," says IOM's
Director of Operations, Mohammed Abdiker. "Every few minutes we
learn about more and more groups of migrants either stranded inside
Libya or those who arrive at its borders with Egypt, Tunisia and
Niger. The scale of this crisis cannot be underestimated."

In addition to the large groups of migrants of various
nationalities including Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, Filipinos,
Ghanaians stranded at the Egyptian and Tunisian borders, a group of
2,400 Sub-Saharan African migrants were at Tumo on the Libyan side
of the border with Niger. They are due to arrive at an IOM migrant
reception centre in Dirkou in northern Niger.

IOM has already assisted 1,154 Nigerien migrants who have
transited through the centre at Dirkou with food, shelter and
medical care in addition to transport assistance to the city of
Agadez.

IOM has been informed that another 4,000 migrants, mostly
Nigeriens are stranded in and around the town of Misrata in Libya
with a migrant reporting that 2 African migrants were killed on
Monday when they left their home to search for food. Contacts
inside Libya are also saying that many thousands of Sub-Saharan
Africans are preparing to move to Niger, partly as food prices
rocket as supplies run out.

"IOM is already assisting migrants that have crossed into Niger
but with many thousands expected to arrive in the coming days, we
have to ensure that resources are available to help them and the
increasingly large number of migrants from Asia who are now
stranded in various countries such as Greece and Turkey after an
initial evacuation," Abdiker adds.

Among the migrants now stranded elsewhere include nearly 750
Vietnamese in Turkey and Crete with another 2,000 due to arrive in
Istanbul in the next few days. Another 1,200 Bangladeshi,
Pakistani, Vietnamese and South African migrants are also expected
to arrive by boat in Istanbul in the next day or so.

IOM has been requested by various governments to help their
nationals in Crete and Turkey with humanitarian and repatriation
assistance.

For further information, please contact:

Chris Lom in Egypt

Tel: + 20101761.308

E-mail: "mailto:clom@iom.int">clom@iom.int

or

Jemini Pandya in Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

       + 41 79 217 3374

E-mail: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int