360 migrants rescued on Libya's border with Tunisia

The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Libya reported on Monday that approximately 360 migrants from sub-Saharan countries were rescued in recent days. The Tunisian police had transported them to remote border areas between the two countries. The organization called on international organizations to provide assistance to the migrants.

The local branch of the organization, based in Cairo, welcomed Libya's reception of the migrants who had experienced difficult humanitarian conditions before being rescued by the Libyan border guards. According to the Libyan guards, the 360 migrants, including women and children, are in urgent need of medical and humanitarian assistance.

The Libyan authorities urged for the "permission of relevant organizations - the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration - to meet with the migrants and assist them in legal procedures."

The International Organization for Migration in Libya announced on Monday that it had provided "urgent assistance to the migrants who were rescued on the borders with Tunisia." They stated that 191 migrants received personal hygiene items, clothing, blankets, and medical examinations, as well as protection and psychological support.

The Libyan Ministry of Interior documented the expulsion of citizens from the countries south of the Sahara to the Libyan border by Tunisian authorities.

A team from Agence France-Presse reported that Libyan border patrols rescued dozens of migrants found in the desert near the Tunisian border without water, food, or shelter. The Tunisian police transported the migrants to remote and uninhabited border areas and left them there, according to testimonies from migrants and non-governmental organizations.

The Libyan border guards found the migrants on Sunday near the Al-Asha region, located about 150 kilometers southwest of Tripoli and approximately 15 kilometers from the Tunisian border.

AFP journalists captured images of groups of exhausted and thirsty young men and women, sitting or lying on the sand, seeking shelter under a few shrubs amidst extreme temperatures.

The Tunisian authorities have transferred hundreds of migrants, especially from the coastal city of Sfax (eastern Tunisia), after tensions and clashes between residents and migrants reached a peak with the killing of a Tunisian citizen on July 3.

Non-governmental organizations stated that the Tunisian police "expelled" hundreds of them to remote desert areas near the borders with Libya and Algeria.

Overall, since the start of the Tunisian authorities' expulsion campaign, at least 630 stranded migrants on the Libyan-Tunisian border have been transferred to centers managed by the Libyan Red Crescent, which, together with the International Organization for Migration, examines their cases and divides them between those who want to return to their home countries, asylum seekers, and refugees.

On Sunday, Tunisia signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union to establish a "strategic partnership" that includes support worth 105 million euros to combat irregular migration.

The memorandum stipulates the "development of a system for identifying and returning irregular migrants already present in Tunisia to their countries of origin."

 

AFP