Fears of a New Migration Route for Sudanese Through Libya

Sudan Events – Agencies

Greek authorities on Sunday arrested four Sudanese refugees, aged between 21 and 30, after they landed on the country’s shores, charging them with “human trafficking” and illegal entry, according to local media reports.

Greek courts are currently reviewing 12 similar cases, while the number of Sudanese detainees in Greek prisons has risen to at least 75 people, including minors, according to migration rights activists.

Under Greek criminal law, “piloting a migrant boat or assisting in doing so”—including merely possessing a GPS device for navigation—is classified as human trafficking and can carry a sentence of life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, in one of the largest rescue operations so far this year, the Greek Coast Guard—with support from the European border agency Frontex, commercial ships, and fishing boats—rescued more than 1,200 migrants and refugees off the coast of Crete on Sunday. Local media reported that the boats had departed from the Libyan coast, bringing the total number of arrivals in Crete to nearly 2,000 migrants and refugees in just a few weeks.

According to the same sources, Sudanese nationals made up a significant portion of the new arrivals, with 295 among the 603 people who reached the island over the weekend alone.

This growing influx has alarmed Greek authorities, who fear that the Tobruk–Crete route may be emerging as a major new migration corridor across the Mediterranean, amid escalating chaos in Libya.

In an attempt to contain the crisis, Greek Minister of Migration Thanos Plevris met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, accompanied by EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Margaritis Schinas.

Following the meeting, Dbeibeh pledged to launch a “large-scale security campaign” with international support to curb human trafficking, stating that “the migration issue is beyond Libya’s capacity,” according to Greek newspapers and Libyan sources.

For his part, the Greek minister stated that the island of Crete is under unprecedented pressure from Libya’s eastern coast, making close coordination with Libyan authorities essential to halt the departures. He added that Greece and the European Union are committed to supporting Libya in detaining irregular migrants, preventing their sea crossings, and working to return them to their countries of origin.