Race to Evacuate Thousands of Migrants Caught Up by Libyan Violence Continues Apace
More than 640 migrants were evacuated from the Libyan port city of
Benghazi by IOM yesterday, 3 March.
The migrants, all Bangladeshi, were taken in a road convoy by
IOM and escorted by the Libyan Red Crescent to the Egyptian border
crossing at Salum where IOM is providing humanitarian assistance
including food, water, health care and other aid. IOM will then
organize for their return home to Bangladesh in the days to
come.
Another 300 migrants are being evacuated today, including 40
particularly vulnerable West African migrants. Fearing for their
lives given the targeting of Sub-Saharan Africans and desperate to
leave Libya, they had paid a human smuggler to take them to Egypt
in a sealed and refrigerated truck.
In the past few days, IOM staff had located several thousand
migrant workers from many nationalities in the port at Benghazi and
the surrounding warehouses with the largest groups comprising
Bangladeshi, Indian and Sudanese migrants. This morning, another
500 Bangladeshi migrants arrived at the port compound in a two-hour
period.
As efforts to urgently evacuate those stranded in Libya
continue, IOM is today evacuating a further 3,633 Egyptians from
Djerba to Cairo after assisting nearly 823 Egyptians on
Thursday. An IOM-chartered vessel that left the Tunisian port
of Sfax in the early hours of Wednesday morning, has now docked in
Alexandria, carrying 1,450 Egyptian migrant workers. By the 7th
March, IOM will have evacuated approximately 14,858 Egyptians from
Tunisia.
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In addition to the evacuation of Egyptian migrants, IOM
has also organized another two flights today to take
346 Bangladeshi migrants home to Dhaka.
Increasing numbers of Bangladeshis, of whom there were an
estimated 63,000 in Libya before the crisis, have managed to get
across the borders. IOM staff in Ras Ajdir report that an estimated
6,000 Bangladeshis already on the Tunisian side of the border,
decided to walk the 8km distance to a UNHCR camp today. In a five
kms long column, the migrants carried their luggage as best they
they can. Some of them, all young men, say
they had walked from Tripoli to the Tunisian border.
Meanwhile, African migrants crossing the border in particular
are recounting bitter tales of targeted treatment in Libya. Some
Eritreans told IOM that in the 160kms from Tripoli to the
Tunisian border, they had been stopped 20 times and totally
dispossessed of all their money and belongings. A Chadian migrant
recounted the increasing violence at night-time in Tripoli that had
led to great terror among him and others.
In Egypt, where IOM is also providing registration and
humanitarian assistance to migrants at the Salum border crossing,
IOM has so far evacuated 1,079 migrants, mostly Bangladeshi
but also including Ghanaian , Malians and
Filipinos.
In Niger, where IOM has a migrant reception and transit centre
in Dirkou, the Organization is gearing up the imminent arrival of
another 534 AFrican migrants who arrived in the border area of
Madama yesterday. In addition, approximately 2,500 Sub-Saharan
African migrants are in Tumo, about 80 kms from Madama. The
majority of those who have crossed the Niger border are Nigerien
but among the 2,500 migrants in Tumo, IOM believes there are other
African nationalities present.
The centre, which provides shelter, food and basic medical care,
is currently hosting another 59 migrants including four women and
four children. Among the group are two Malians.
Another 1,154 Nigeriens have already transited through the
IOM centre in Dirkou and have been assisted by the Organization to
get to Agadez.
Plans are underway to extend the current 400 migrant capacity at
the centre given that much larger numbers of people are heading to
Dirkou.
As the numbers of people fleeing Libya in need of assistance
increase daily, a revised IOM appeal will be issued on Monday 7th
March as part of the UN Flash appeal. The Organization has been
greatly encouraged so far by the response it has had to a joint
IOM-UNHCR appeal to evacuate tens of thousands of people fleeing
Libya. The two organizations have established a joint
humanitarian evacuation programme which aims to vastly enhance
ongoing efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis at the
Tunisian and Egyptian borders.
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,
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
.