Nearly 120 asylum seekers have been evacuated from Libya to Rwanda in the first such flight of the year.
The group of men, women, and children – the youngest less than one-year-old – were from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.
Most had been living in urban areas of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, and others had been arbitrarily held in detention, some for several months.
The group evacuated on Tuesday night will join another 269 refugees and asylum seekers in Gashora, where the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) provides assistance including shelter, food and medical care
“These evacuation flights out of Libya continue to provide hope and safety to refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libya,” said Djamal Zamoum, the UNHCR’s acting chief of mission in Libya.
Detainees in various Libyan migrant centres have previously described routine torture, rape, malnutrition and the spread of diseases like tuberculosis because of conditions they are forced to endure there.
Campaign group Amnesty International had called conditions “horrific” and “inhuman”.
The Libyan authorities responded by announcing the closure of three large detention centres in Misrata, Tajoura and Khoms in 2019.
Rwanda has taken in more than 900 asylum seekers since mid-2019 when it signed an agreement with UNHCR and the African Union.
Libya has for years been used as a transit route for thousands of people trying to reach Europe. The majority will try to cross over the Mediterranean Sea but many do not make it.
The International Organization for Migration says more than 215 migrants have been reported dead or missing in the central Mediterranean since the beginning of this year.
