Thread: Thousands of migrants stranded in Libyan smuggling hub

Thousands of migrants stranded in Libyan smuggling hub

Aidan Lewis and Ahmed Elumami

Tunis: Humanitarian agencies are trying to provide urgent help to large numbers of migrants held and then stranded in the smuggling hub of Sabratha, Libya, as rival factions battle for control of the city.

At least 4000 migrants and refugees, including pregnant women, newborn babies and unaccompanied children, have been transferred from informal camps and housing to a hangar in the city since the clashes ended on Friday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said some 6000 had been held at the informal sites.


Men rescued from boats coming from Libya stand on the deck of a rescue vessel in the
Mediterranean in June. Photo: AP

Hundreds of migrants who had left Sabratha arrived in Zuwara, about 25 kilometres to the west, on foot along the beach, said Sadeeq al-Jayash, head of Zuwara's emergency committee.

"They come walking in groups ... for example there were various groups that came on Sunday - 50, then 100 and 200 at night," said Jayash. There were about 1700 migrants currently in Zuwara "in desperate need of help", he said.

Sabratha has been the most common point of departure for mostly sub-Saharan African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat from Libya.

But the number of crossings dropped sharply in July after an armed group struck a deal with officials from the UN-backed government in Tripoli to block departures, under pressure from Italy and other European Union member states.

That set off three weeks of fighting among rival factions that left at least 43 dead and 340 wounded, according to a new health ministry toll, and ended with the withdrawal of the armed group. The migrants who have since been rounded up were being held at sites that the group had controlled, local officials said.

"We are seriously concerned by the large number of migrants caught up in recent developments in Sabratha," Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya chief of mission, said in a statement.


Battle damage to Roman ruins in Sabratha, Libya, after rival Libyan militias turned their guns
against each other in fierce fighting that is in part fallout from an Italian-backed deal that
funded militias to act as police forces to stop migrants. Photo: AP

Some migrants are being sent on to detention centres elsewhere in western Libya that are nominally under the control of the Tripoli government.

IOM officials say those centres, which were housing some 5000 migrants, risk being overwhelmed by the new arrivals. Conditions in the centres are often dire and abuse widespread.



A new born baby girl lays in her mothers' arms right after being born onboard a Spanish rescue vessel on the Mediterranean Sea last month. Photo: AP


"Alternatives to detention must be found for migrants in Libya. In the meantime, IOM continues to provide direct humanitarian, health and psycho-social assistance to meet the urgent needs of the thousands of migrants being affected," Belbeisi said.

Local sources have previously said that an estimated 10,000 migrants were being held in the Sabratha area.

The head of Sabratha's department for countering illegal migration tsaid on Saturday that help was badly needed as some migrants had received no food or water for six days.

The UNHCR said it had approached Libyan authorities to ensure that refugees among the migrants were freed from detention.

Thousands of migrants stranded in Libyan smuggling hub

"At least 4000 migrants and refugees, including pregnant women, newborn babies and unaccompanied children, have been transferred from informal camps and housing to a hangar in the city since the clashes ended on Friday, "

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And they continue to breed in filth and dirt.

Send them ALL back!

Spay, neuter and deport.

Gaddafi never would have allowed this use of his country and told EU he could unleash africa on Europe if he chose too. Makes you wonder if EU wanted this migration as they and the US were his killers. Stories were made up @ him and rebels placed to kill him and hillary thought it was funny.

What happened in Libya was a national disgrace across the board, same in Syria. Trump wasn't in position to stop the Libya disaster or the Egypt one either, fortunately he arrived in time to stop the Syria mess. What the Obama Administration has done to these countries in the false flag name of rebels and "freedom fighters" is absolutely shameful and will be recorded in history as such. That will be Obama's and Hillary's "Legacy".