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Sixty-one migrants drown in shipwreck off Libya – IOM

Sixty-one migrants drown in shipwreck off Libya – IOM

SIXTY-ONE migrants, including women and children, drowned following a shipwreck off Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya said. IOM, in a post on social media platform X, quoted survivors as saying the boat, carrying around 86 people, departed the Libyan city of Zwara, about 110 km (68 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. "The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world's most dangerous migration routes," IOM said. Deadly incidents this year included one in June, when a fishing boat packed with hundreds of migrants sank off Greece after departing from Tobruk, Libya. The voyage, which was supposed to…
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Darfur refugees report new spate of ethnically driven killings

Darfur refugees report new spate of ethnically driven killings

PEOPLE fleeing to Chad have reported a new surge in ethnically-driven killings in Sudan's West Darfur as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took over the main army base in the state capital, El Geneina. On Tuesday, a Reuters reporter saw a trail of men crossing from Darfur into Chad at Adre, about 27 km (17 miles) west of El Geneina. Three of those who fled said they had witnessed killings by Arab militias and RSF forces targeting the Masalit ethnic group in Ardamata, an outlying district in El Geneina that is home to the army base and a camp for internally…
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At least 34 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Djibouti

At least 34 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Djibouti

AT least 34 people drowned when a boat carrying migrants from Yemen capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The boat, which was being controlled by people smugglers, is believed to have been carrying 60 passengers, IOM said on its Twitter feed, without providing further details such as when the incident occurred. Drownings have become common in the waters off Djibouti, and typically involve migrants from Ethiopia or Somalia trying to escape poverty and war at home by finding work in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. They include would-be migrants who…
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At least 74 migrants dead in shipwreck off Libya coast, IOM says

At least 74 migrants dead in shipwreck off Libya coast, IOM says

AT least 74 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya on Thursday, the United Nations' migration agency said, with 47 survivors brought to shore by coastguards and fishermen. Libya, which has had no stable central government since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, is a major transit point for mainly African migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe. At least 900 have already drowned this year attempting the crossing, according to the agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Another 11,000 have been stopped at sea and returned to Libya, where migrants are often detained, exploited…
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At least 140 Europe-bound migrants drown off Senegal coast – U.N.

At least 140 Europe-bound migrants drown off Senegal coast – U.N.

AT least 140 Europe-bound migrants drowned off the coast of Senegal when their boat caught fire and capsized, marking the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year, the U.N. migration agency has disclosed. The boat carrying 200 people sank a few hours after leaving the fishing town of Mbour, 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital Dakar, on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Video shared on local media showed a rescue boat of local fishermen approaching a thick column of dark smoke in the open ocean, as people swam frantically towards them. The Senegalese and Spanish navies and…
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Migrant evacuation flights resume from Libya, U.N. agency says

Migrant evacuation flights resume from Libya, U.N. agency says

UNITED Nations evacuation flights for migrants stuck in Libya have resumed after being suspended because of the global pandemic, according to the U.N. refugee agency More than 150 people from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, including 15 children under 18 years old, flew to Niger later on Thursday where they are now in quarantine, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said. Both UNHCR and the U.N. migration agency IOM have called for Libya, torn apart by years of war and chaos, to be classed as an unsafe port for migrants. The country has long been a stepping stone…
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Nearly 3 million migrants stranded by COVID-19 – UN report

Nearly 3 million migrants stranded by COVID-19 – UN report

CORONAVIRUS border closures and restrictions have stranded nearly 3 million migrants around the world who want to return home but cannot, the U.N. migration agency has said, adding some had been "warehoused" in unhygienic settings. The International Organization for Migration report is the most comprehensive to date on the issue, covering more than 100 countries. It includes only migrants who want to return but are unable to do so because of the COVID-19 restrictions -- such as seafarers stuck on decommissioned ships, miners or construction workers. "It should be clear that migrants can be returned home in a safe and…
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‘Treated like slaves’, African and Asian migrant workers bear brunt of Lebanon crisis

‘Treated like slaves’, African and Asian migrant workers bear brunt of Lebanon crisis

ALAA KANAAN CHANTING their national anthem in the departure hall of Beirut airport, a group of migrant workers prepared to return home and close a chapter on their time in Lebanon which drove some to despair. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which supports many domestic workers in Lebanon, says as many as 10,000 migrants have asked to be repatriated because their wages collapsed after the country plunged into a deep financial crisis a year ago. Many employers stopped paying salaries in dollars and some foreign workers said they were leaving with their wages unpaid. The numbers of those asking…
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Three Libyans arrested for burning Nigerian man to death

Three Libyans arrested for burning Nigerian man to death

THREE Libyans killed a Nigerian man by setting him on fire in Tripoli, the interior ministry has said, in what a U.N. agency described as "another senseless crime against migrants in the country". The Tripoli-based interior ministry said in a statement it had arrested the three suspects in the case, adding that they had used petrol to set the victim on fire at a factory. Federico Soda, Libya country chief for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a U.N. migration agency, said those responsible must be held accountable. There are half a million migrants in Libya according to IOM, some…
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At least 24 migrants drowned off Libya – IOM

At least 24 migrants drowned off Libya – IOM

TWO dozen migrants and refugees on board a rubber dinghy trying to cross from Libya to Europe are believed to have drowned after their boat capsized, the UN's International Organization of Migration has announced. Three boats were thought to have departed from Libya's Zawiyah on Sunday night. The Libyan coast guard found 45 people onboard two boats and brought them back but the third had capsized, the IOM's Safa Msehli said at a Geneva briefing. "Two bodies were retrieved and very few survivors have reported to IOM staff at the disembarkation point last night so at least 22 others have…
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