Plan set to evacuate thousands of migrants in Tripoli

[News_Editor]

Plan set to evacuate thousands of migrants in Tripoli

2011-08-20 09:35:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

TRIPOLI (BNO NEWS) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday said it is working to evacuate thousands of migrants who are in need of help in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

The Organization has said that thousands of Egyptian migrants, living in Tripoli and in western Libya, have now registered with their Embassy and are ready for evacuation.

In addition, a large number of other foreign nationals are still present in the Libyan capital and they have requested to leave as their situation becomes increasingly vulnerable. The exact number of the total migrant population in the capital area is unknown.

The IOM has already assisted thousands of migrants elsewhere in Libya but the evacuation from Tripoli poses major obstacles.

Earlier, the Organization evacuated more than 10,000 migrants by road from Tripoli to the Tunisian border point at Ras Adjir. However, that evacuation route had to be abandoned due to increased fighting between rebel and government forces.

As the Organization prepares its Tripoli evacuation plan, taking into account the logistical, political and security challenges, it will soon be in need of significant new funds to carry out the operation.

"A rapid response on this is critical to ensuring that in the small window of opportunity we have to get people out of Tripoli, we are not constrained by funding issues," said Pasquale Lupoli, IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

On Friday, an IOM-chartered ship left the eastern Libyan town of Benghazi for Misrata on the 15th mission to evacuate migrants, mainly from northern Africa.

More than 8,300 migrants and wounded civilians have so far been assisted by IOM on its Misrata operations with funding from the European Commission's Humanitarian and Civil Aid department (ECHO) and the Australian, British, German, Irish, Japanese and U.S. governments.

Libya has been engulfed in fighting since a pro-democracy movement opposed to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi emerged in February following similar protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries across North Africa and the Middle East.

United Nations officials have repeatedly stated that a ceasefire tied to transitional arrangements which address the aspirations of the Libyan people is the only sustainable political solution to the crisis. However, the parties remain divided on how to reach a political solution to the conflict, which has caused an estimated 630,000 people to flee Libya since February and displaced another 200,000 within the country.

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