(IRIN) - Hundreds of stranded Chadian migrants have been airlifted home
from southern Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
said in Geneva on 2 August. > >
"The operation, which ended on 30 July, provided evacuation assistance
to 1,398 vulnerable Chadian migrants and other third-country nationals,
including many women, children and [the] elderly, who fled areas around
Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi and Sebha," IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe
Chauzy told journalists. > >
The migrants were taken to a transit centre in Sebha and then flown to
Ndjamena, where they were helped to return to their towns and villages.
War-wounded returnees were referred to the International Committee of
the Red Cross in the Chadian capital. > > "The migrants we found just
over a month ago were exhausted after having spent weeks wandering and
living in the open with limited access to food, water and health
services," said IOM's Qasim Suffi, who oversaw the 10 flights. > > "This
humanitarian airlift provided a way out for all those who simply didn't
have the means or the strength to return home," he said. "We shall
continue to regularly monitor the situation in Sebha to find out if more
migrants request evacuation assistance over the coming weeks." > > More
than 78,000 Chadians have returned home over the past few months, most
of them empty-handed, according to IOM.
> > Many of their families had relied on the remittances [
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93098 ] they had been
sending back from Libya. Now that these funds have dried up, their
families will be even more vulnerable at a time of worsening food
insecurity. > > Close to 200,000 West Africans have returned to their
home countries from Libya, since fighting [
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93297 ] erupted between
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to oust him.
> > In addition, thousands of migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan
Africa, seek to flee across the Mediterranean in rickety, overcrowded
boats [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93196 ]. Hundreds
are believed to have died in recent months as they sought to make their
way to Italy. > > On 1 July, Italian media reported that more than two
dozen African migrants died in the hold of a crowded boat that made the
crossing from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa. The 15m boat was
reportedly carrying 296 people. Survivors were taken ashore and moved to
an refugee shelter. > > In April, a boat believed to be carrying up to
300 migrants from Libya capsized, leaving 250 people feared dead. > >
pfm/js/mw[END]
> >This report online:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93406 > > > >© IRIN. All
rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis:
http://www.irinnews.org/ > >[This item comes to you via IRIN, the
humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
kenneth w. harrow professor of english michigan state university
department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839
harrow@msu.edu
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