With about 5,000 migrants including women and children still
stranded at Salum, on the Libyan-Egyptian border living in
difficult conditions, IOM is stepping up the humanitarian
assistance it is providing.

Although the stranded migrants have been taking shelter in empty
buildings at the border post, they have needed food, water and
sanitation facilities.

Until now, the Organization has been providing about 2,500 food
rations and bottled water to the Egyptian army at the border to
pass on to the migrants in addition to other non-food items.

However, as of today, IOM and other agencies which are now also
on the ground at Salum including UNHCR, Islamic Relief, Egyptian
Food Bank and Catholic Relief Services, is significantly increasing
food assistance as numbers of migrants stranded at the border
continue to remain large.

IOM is doubling its food and water assistance to 5,000 rations a
day and UNHCR to 3,000 rations. With sanitation an issue, UNICEF
will rehabilitate existing facilities.

Efforts to ensure adequate humanitarian assistance is in place
are critical as migrants continue to arrive from Libya although in
fewer numbers than before.

Nearly 5,800 Egyptians and non-Egyptian migrants reached Salum
on 3 March although on 4th March only 1,400 migrants of various
nationalities arrived there. Among them were several hundred
migrants evacuated by IOM from the Libyan port of Benghazi that
day. However, reports indicate that people are continuing to make
their way to Libya’s border with Egypt.

IOM staff on the ground report growing tension among the
migrants at Salum, mostly Bangladeshi, but also a large group of
Sub-Saharan Africans desperate to get home.

With large numbers of Bangladeshi migrants not just on the
Egyptian border but also an estimated 7,000 at Ras Adjir in Tunisia
and about 730 on the Greek island of Crete, IOM and UNHCR are now
focusing their efforts on evacuating as many as possible to
Dhaka.

“IOM has already assisted nearly 1,270 Bangladeshi
migrants to return home in recent days. We hope that with this
push, we will succeed in getting much larger numbers of migrants
home safely,” says Mohammed Abdiker, Director of Operations
at IOM

More than 500 Bangladeshis will be assisted home by IOM from
Tunisia on flights provided by the UK government’s Department
for International Development (DFID) on 6 March with IOM staff in
Dhaka on hand to provide assistance on arrival.

Many more flights are currently being organized for departure
over the next few days.

Elsewhere, more than 500 mainly Nigerien migrants have arrived
at the IOM migrant reception and transit centre in Dirkou. Among
the group were about 70 Malians, Senegalese, Burkinabés and
Ghanaians as well as women and children. The centre is now hosting
683 migrants with IOM also providing food and non-food
assistance.

Another 1,154 Nigeriens have already transited through the IOM
centre in Dirkou and have been assisted by the Organization to get
to Agadez and for some, to their home villages.

The centre is bracing for the arrival of several thousands of
Sub-Saharan Africans reportedly en route from the Libyan
border.

However, the geographic spread of stranded migrants is much
greater than thought. IOM has been made aware of Vietnamese,
Nepalese and Bangladeshi migrants in Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey,
Algeria and Sudan.

Approximately 3,500 Vietnamese migrants are now in five other
countries apart from Egypt and Tunisia, with close to 300 having
fled to Algeria.

For further information, please contact:

In Ras Adjir/Djerba, Tunisia,

Jean Philippe Chauzy

Tel: + 41 79 285 4366

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

In Alexandria/Salum, Egypt,

Jumbe Omari Jumbe

Tel: + 41 79 812 7734

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

In Egypt,

Chris Lom

Tel: + 20101761.308

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

In Geneva, Switzerland,

Jemini Pandya

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

       + 41 79 217 3374

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

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