Libya Deports 700 Sudanese Migrants
Sudan Events – Agencies
Officials announced on Saturday that eastern Libyan authorities have repatriated hundreds of Sudanese nationals as part of a crackdown on migrants attempting to flee conflict and poverty and reach Europe through Libya.
The Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration in eastern Libya stated in an announcement that 700 Sudanese migrants who had recently been detained in central and southeastern Libya were deported overland to Sudan on Friday.
The statement explained that some of those deported were suffering from infectious diseases, including hepatitis and AIDS. It added that others were deported either for criminal reasons or for “security reasons,” without providing further details.
This deportation is part of an ongoing campaign against human trafficking in eastern Libya, which is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Last week, the eastern Libyan coast guard announced it had intercepted a boat carrying 80 migrants headed to Europe off the coast of the eastern city of Tobruk.
The campaign has included raids on human trafficking hubs in eastern and southern Libya. A raid earlier this month resulted in the rescue of 104 Sudanese migrants, including women and children, who were being held in a trafficking warehouse in the city of Ajdabiya, about 800 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli, according to city security authorities.
In recent years, Libya has become a key transit point for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa in search of a better life in Europe. Human traffickers have taken advantage of over a decade of instability, smuggling migrants through Libya’s borders with six countries: Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia.
The North African nation descended into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. For most of the past decade, oil-rich Libya has been ruled by two rival governments in the east and west, each supported by various militias and foreign powers.
Thousands of Sudanese have fled to Libya since their own country descended into chaos in April 2023, after escalating tensions between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted into a full-scale war across the nation.
They are among more than 240,000 Sudanese migrants currently living in Libya, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM).
