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IOM returned 160 Ethiopian refugees from Libya

  1. Posted on Wednesday 16 December 2009 - 07:24
    Yohanes
    Image of Yohanes
    By Andualem Sisay
    Some 160 Ethiopian migrants who had been stranded in Libya without travel documents repatriated on Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

    IOM indicated that the 160 migrants boarded a chartered aircraft in the southern Libyan town of Sebha on Tuesday for a five-hour flight to Addis Abeba, where they were met and assisted by IOM staff.

    The IOM gave each migrant around 585 dollars when they landed in Addis Abeba to help them "start income-generating activities as part of its voluntary repatriation program, the organization’s statement added.

    "The program, set up in July 2006, has so far helped over 3,800 stranded and often destitute migrants from Africa and Asia to return home in dignity," the statement said.

    The IOM said that many of the Ethiopians it repatriated on Tuesday said they had been in Libya "for years, trying to seek out a living as undocumented migrants or to save up" money to travel on to Europe.

    Some of them said they reached Libya after dangerous treks across the Sahara.
    IOM's Tripoli chief of mission Laurence Hart is quoted as saying: "This group of stranded migrants, like so many others, realized they had no future in Libya and wanted to return home but couldn't because they had no money or documentation”.

    More than one million illegal migrants are in Libya to try to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe, according to the IOM.

    Libya, with its porous land and sea borders, is a major starting point for sub-Saharan Africans risking their lives in rickety boats with the hope of asylum or simply a better life in Europe.

    Last year, about 35 000 illegal immigrants arrived on Italian shores. Of them, 75% sought political or humanitarian asylum, half of whom obtained it, according to the UN refugee agency.

    In May, Rome and Tripoli reached a controversial agreement that allows the Italian navy to intercept illegal migrants at sea and return them to Libya, triggering sharp criticism from the UNHCR and rights groups.

    IOM returned 160 Ethiopian refugees from Libya

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