U.N. to move 10,000 migrants from Libya in 2018

The United Nations plans to move up to 10,000 illegal migrants from Libya next year, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday, in a bid to relieve the plight of thousands stranded in deteriorating conditions in detention centres there. The U.N. is repatriating migrants to African countries willing to take them back but it was […]

The United Nations plans to move up to 10,000 illegal migrants from Libya next year, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday, in a bid to relieve the plight of thousands stranded in deteriorating conditions in detention centres there.

The U.N. is repatriating migrants to African countries willing to take them back but it was also in talks with European countries and Canada to take in some refugees, Roberto Mignone, chief mission of the U.N. refugee agency, said.

“This week we are going to send out of Libya 350 refugees, until the end of January we will send out at least 1000,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“In 2018 we are planning to send out of Libya between 5,000 and 10,000 refugees. We give priority to women, children, elderly, disabled, persons who suffered very seriously.”

A total of 44,306 had been registered as refugees and asylum seekers in Libya, he said.