Libya - A group of 174 stranded Malian migrants flew home to Bamako from Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport this week aboard an IOM charter flight.

As with other voluntary return flights organized over the past three months, IOM Libya worked closely with the Malian Embassy in Tripoli and the Libyan authorities to facilitate the repatriation.

Almost all the migrants in the group had entered Libya irregularly, either via Burkina Faso and Niger to reach Qatrun in southern Libya; or via Algeria to reach south-western Libya.

Most came to Libya to work and send back money to their families. Others were bound for Europe and simply transiting through Libya.

During their stay in Libya, the migrants faced huge difficulties. Few managed to find decent jobs and all of them risked being robbed or held to ransom due to widespread insecurity and crime.

Cisse, 27, arrived in Libya in 2009, before the 2011 revolution. He decided to return home two months ago, when he was detained by gunmen and forced to pay USD 450 for his release. Despite paying the money, the kidnappers beat him and shot him in the leg before releasing him.

Phophana, another of the group, was also shot in the leg while working in a gas station in Tripoli. He is currently recovering from the incident.

The day before their departure, the migrants stayed overnight at the Malian embassy in Tripoli. IOM staff provided them with a hot meal and hygiene kits.

On their return to Mali, the returnees were met by IOM staff and given money for their onward transport to their final destinations. The most vulnerable 48 cases were also given reintegration grants.

The charter flight was funded by the European Union and the Italian Ministry of Interior as part of an IOM project: “Prevention and management of irregular migration flows from the Sahara Desert to the Mediterranean (SAHMED)”. The charter was the fifth of a series of repatriation flights that IOM is organizing in the coming months to Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso.

For further information, please contact IOM Libya. Othman Belbeisi, Tel: +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int  or Ashraf Hassan, Email: ashassan@iom.int