Some 850 stranded migrants and vulnerable displaced Libyans,
including women and children, were yesterday evacuated from Tripoli
onboard an IOM chartered ship.

The Azzura is currently sailing towards the eastern port city of
Benghazi where it is expected to arrive later today.

Upon arrival, the evacuees will be temporarily accommodated at a
transit centre before being taken by IOM to the Egyptian border and
eventually assisted to return to their home countries.

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The migrants from Egypt, the Philippines, Lebanon, Morocco,
Mauritania, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq and Ukraine boarded the IOM ship
on Sunday afternoon to escape widespread shortages of fuel, food,
water and medical supplies.

This follows the earlier evacuation of 263 stranded migrants
from Tripoli, bringing the total number of evacuees to more than
1,100.

Although news of increased rebel control of Tripoli might have
some migrants reconsider leaving the Libyan capital, IOM staff on
the ground believe many more migrants, especially from sub Saharan
Africa have not been able to reach their embassies or the port area
because of fears for their security.

Among those are some 200 frightened Nigerians and other West
Africans who are said to be stranded in Tripoli’s southern
district of Al-Yarmouk and who say they are in desperate need of
evacuation.

Many have said to journalists that they are afraid of being
stopped at opposition checkpoints because of their perceived
association to sub-Saharan mercenaries who are said to have fought
alongside government forces.

In an effort to increase its capacity to evacuate more stranded
migrants from Tripoli, IOM has chartered another ship, the Red Star
One, which is due to leave Benghazi later today.

IOM is also looking at resuming its evacuation by road to
neighbouring Tunisia, provided security along the route is
assured.

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

Tel: + 41 22 717 9361/+41 79 285 4366

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

or

Jumbe Omari Jumbe

Tel: + 41 22 717 9405/+ 41 79 812 7734

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