Over Hundred Sudanese Stuck in Libya Return Home

Migrants are seen at the centre of the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority in Tripoli, Libya September 10, 2017. (Reuters Photo)

August 29, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - Some 123 Sudanese who were stranded in Libya due to military confrontations in and around Tripoli arrived in the capital Khartoum on Thursday.

The returnees were received at Khartoum airport by the joint technical committee between the Secretariat of Sudanese Working Abroad (SSWA) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) within the context of joint European initiative on reintegration and protection of migrants funded by EU.

Earlier, SSWA announced the continuation of the reintegration procedures for returnees in accordance with the measures followed for the provision of humanitarian, social and economic assistance.

Last July, a group of 165 Sudanese arrived in Khartoum, preceded by two groups; the first was June, which included 152 Sudanese, and the second on July 10 which included 182 citizens.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry had announced special flights to evacuate Sudanese affected by the war in Libya in cooperation with IOM and coordination with the Sudanese Embassy in Tripoli and SSWA.

Sudanese youth who claim to flee violence and oppression by the former regime keep trying to cross Mediterranean Europe, to avoid slavery and arbitrary detention.

In April, IOM announced that it was working to repatriate some 10,000 migrants, mostly from Africa, stranded in Libya by the end of this year.

To curb human trafficking, In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

Libya has become increasingly divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with competing governments and rival militias seeking to gain territory and influence.

(ST)