Despite a slow improvement of the situation in the city where there is limited access to food, potable water and fuel, the security situation nevertheless remains potentially volatile.
Individual migrants contacting IOM are telling the Organization that they are scared to leave their homes for fear of being arrested or killed, claiming that even documented migrants are afraid to go out and find food and water because others have done so and have not returned home.
Although there are no reliable figures on the existing migrant
population in Tripoli and from growing number of anecdotal reports,
it is clear to IOM that there are a high number of very vulnerable
migrants in the city. Other organizations are also alerting IOM to
migrant groups they have come across and who are in need of help.
Most migrants are deliberately not congregating in large numbers to
avoid being conspicuous or targeted. Access to Sub-Saharan migrants
is still being hampered by security issues and
individually-constructed check-points or because the migrants are
afraid to meet.
While many of the migrants want IOM to help them leave Libya, others don’t. Among them are a group of 800 Sub-Saharan Africans stranded at a fishing port who are either too scared to return to their home countries and want asylum or who have no prospect of a livelihood upon returning.
The significant increase in food prices and either limited or no access to funds to buy what is available means there are ever-growing numbers of migrants in need of humanitarian assistance.
“Access to food is clearly a major issue for migrants in Tripoli. The first group of migrants IOM evacuated from Tripoli last week were really hungry. As a result we increased our food supplies on subsequent evacuations,” says IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Pasquale Lupoli.
Meanwhile, IOM staff in Tripoli are continuing to work to access vulnerable migrants. For those who want to leave Libya, the Organization is now working on an evacuation operation by road.
Nearly 1,600 migrants and vulnerable Libyans have been evacuated by IOM by boat from Tripoli so far.
For further information, please contact Jean Philippe Chauzy, Tel: + 41 22 717 9361/+41 79 285 4366, Email: jpchauzy@iom.int or Jemini Pandya, IOM Geneva, Tel: + 41 22 717 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374 Email: jpandya@iom.int
