The body responsible for combating illegal immigration in Libya, in coordination with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), organized the return of 323 illegal Nigerians to their country on Tuesday January 30.
“On Tuesday, we deported 163 illegal migrants of Nigerian nationality from Mitiga airport (north-west), including 107 women, 51 men and five children,” said General Mohamad Baredaa, head of security for the body, which reports to the Ministry of the Interior. On the same day, “160 Nigerians will be sent back to their country from Benina airport in Benghazi” (north-east), he added.
Since an agreement was signed in 2023 between the authorities in the west, south and east, the body in charge of removals at the Ministry of the Interior, based in Tripoli (north-west), has been coordinating operations. Dressed in black tracksuits with their hoods up, the Nigerian nationals, mostly young women, were assembled in a waiting room, given a snack and a pass, before boarding buses bound for the airport.
Libya, some 300 kilometers from the Italian coast, is one of the main departure countries in North Africa for thousands of migrants, mostly of sub-Saharan origin, who risk their lives to reach Europe by sea. Smugglers and traffickers have taken advantage of the climate of instability (that has been reigning in Libya since the assassination of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011) to develop clandestine networks.
More than 700,000 migrants are present on Libyan territory, according to the IOM, based on data collected between May and June 2023.