Race against Time to Save Lives of Thousands of Migrants Stranded in Southern Libya
Thousands of stranded migrants, including large numbers of women
and children, are in desperate need of immediate food, water,
shelter and medical assistance after having spent many weeks living
in the open in the southern Libyan desert, an IOM assessment team
has found as the Organization looks into ways to evacuate them to
safety.
So far, more than 2,000 Chadian migrants have been discovered by
IOM in Gatroun and Sebha, though these figures could grow as the
team continues with its assessment in the area.
"Time is of the essence," says IOM's Dr. Qasim Sufi, leading the
assessment mission to Southern Libya which began late last week.
"The migrants are in a very bad state after having existed so long
like this. Conditions for them are brutal in the desert heat with
no protection from the sun, wind or sand and no access to water,
food or sanitation."
Up until now, the migrants' survival has been largely due to
whatever supplies other Chadian migrants passing through have been
able to spare.
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IOM staff are today distributing water, food and hygiene
materials purchased from the local market to the stranded migrants
in Sebha. Another distribution for migrants in Gatroun will take
place Wednesday, 29 June.
Together with the Libyan Red Crescent, IOM staff, including a
doctor, will also begin to carry out medical checks on the migrants
from today and provide medicines.
Many of the migrants have been stranded for more than six weeks,
en route to Chad from towns and cities such as Kufra, Misrata, Al
Jufra and elsewhere.
The assessment team have been struck by the numbers of women and
children as well as the elderly among the group, estimated to
represent between 30 to 40 per cent. Most of the Sub-Saharan
African migrants who have fled Libya into neighbouring countries
have been young men.
The large presence of the women, children and elderly also
highlights the fact that the migrants have been living and working
in Libya for many years, for some up to 30 years. Leaving Libya is
a matter of last resort and the uncertainty of what awaits them in
Chad after decades away is causing fear and worry among them.
"Their situation is heartbreaking on many fronts. During their
escape, people have either been separated from loved ones or have
lost them. Women without husbands, children or family – not
knowing what has happened to them and not having anyone to turn
to," says Sufi. "One distraught woman came to us in tears, having
left her husband in Misrata. They had been separated by the
fighting there and she didn't know whether he was alive or
dead."
The migrants have been unable to leave Gatroun or Sebha because
of clashes between government and rebel forces south of Gatroun,
banditry and lack of available transport.
The IOM team itself had to negotiate safe passage through to
Gatroun after running into clashes between rival forces some 80 kms
south of the town. It had also come across many trucks with
migrants on board that had broken down in the desert and which had
been stranded for many days. This had exposed them to bandits who
had consequently robbed them of their possessions and supplies.
"With so many women, children and elderly, going any further
south is not possible given the security conditions and unsafe
roads. The migrants have had no option but to stay where they are,
even though they have run out of food and water," explains
Sufi.
With Sebha, Libya's fifth city, home to a major airport, IOM
will begin evacuating migrants by air as soon as logistically
possible to Niger and Chad.
This will be done with the support of the Libyan authorities
including the Ministry of Transport, clan elders and both the
Chadian and Nigerien consulates in Sebha, which are also helping
IOM to identify where other groups of migrants are and who may need
humanitarian and evacuation assistance.
"It's a miracle there haven't been deaths among the migrants.
Although people have respiratory illnesses, diabetes or high blood
pressure and babies are being born in the open without medical care
and in completely unsafe conditions, they have largely survived.
But we cannot tempt fate any longer and need to get them home
fast," states Sufi.
IOM is also putting in place measures to provide assistance to
thousands of migrants currently en route to Chad and Niger.
En route to Gatroun, the IOM assessment team met more than 35
trucks each carrying over a hundred migrants inside Libya making
their way to Chad or Niger. IOM is looking at establishing a way
station at Madama in Niger, a crossroads for all those coming from
Libya that would provide food, water and some shelter.
The IOM assessment and imminent evacuation operation from
Gatroun and Sebha, mainly funded by the US and German governments
and the European Commission's Humanitarian and Civil Aid department
(ECHO), follows long-standing reports of many tens of thousands of
Chadian migrants being stranded in Gatroun.
Although 44,000 mainly Chadian migrants have managed to reach
Chad by road in recent weeks, reports of the extremely worrying
plight of vulnerable migrants in southern Libyan have lingered.
IOM has been negotiating access to the group since the reports
first reached the Organization.
More than 75,000 Nigeriens and other African migrants have also
reached Niger from Libya since the start of the crisis.
For further information, please contact:
Qasim Sufi, in Southern Libya
Tel: +218 944 10 68 94
Jean Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: +41 22 717 9361 / +41 79 285 4366
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int
Jemini Pandya
Tel: +41 22 717 9486 / +41 79 217 3374
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int
or
Jumbe Omari Jumbe
Tel. +41 22 717 9405 / +41 79 812 7734
E-mail:
"mailto:jjumbe@iom.int">jjumbe@iom.int