The operation, which ended on 30 July, provided
evacuation assistance to 1,398 vulnerable Chadian migrants and
other third country nationals, including many women, children and
elderly who fled areas around Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi and
Sebha.
“The migrants we found just over a month ago were exhausted after having spent weeks wandering and living in the open with limited access to food, water and health services,” says IOM’s Dr. Qasim Sufi, who oversaw the ten flights out of Sebha. “Despite their ordeal, the migrants were thankful for the support they received from the local population and authorities. They expressed gratitude for the efforts deployed by the IOM to help them return home safely.”
Prior to their departure, the migrants were transferred to an
IOM transit centre in Sebha where they were provided with food,
water and shelter. Medical checks carried out with the support of
the Libyan Red Crescent. The registration of the mostly
undocumented migrants was carried out by Chadian and other consular
officials in cooperation with the local Libyan authorities and
IOM.
The returnees were met on arrival in N’Djamena by IOM staff
and were provided with food, shelter and assistance to return to
their towns and villages primarily in the capital N’Djamena as well
as the regions of Kanem, Ouaddai and Guera.
War-wounded returnees were referred directly to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in N’Djamena to
ensure appropriate medical and surgical treatment if
required.
“This humanitarian airlift provided a way out for all those
who simply didn’t have the means or the strength to return home,”
says Sufi. “We shall continue to regularly monitor the situation in
Sebha with our partners to find out if more migrants request
evacuation assistance over the coming weeks.”
More than 78,000 Chadian migrants have retuned from Libya over
the past five months, most of the time, empty-handed. Their
homecoming means that remittances they used to send back to their
families in Chad have also dried up, making them even more
vulnerable at a time of worsening food insecurity.
IOM’s assessment and evacuation operation from Sebha is funded
by the European Commission’s Humanitarian and Civil Aid department
(ECHO) and the German government.
For further information, please contact Qasim Sufi at IOM
N’Djamena, Tel: +235 62 90 06 74, Email qsufi@iom.int
