This photo is from an earlier IOM charter to Misrata

Friday 26 August 2011

Spokesperson: Jemini Pandya

Second IOM-Chartered Boat Leaves for Tripoli as First Group of Migrants Are Safely Evacuated – A second IOM-chartered boat is today leaving the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi for Tripoli where it will evacuate more migrants stranded by the violence there.

The boat, loaded with supplies and essential humanitarian and medical aid, is also transporting about 50 humanitarian workers from various organizations. It is due to arrive in Tripoli at the weekend. Assuming security conditions are right, the IOM chartered boat will dock and off-load the aid before migrants are boarded for departure.

The departure of this second IOM boat comes as a first group of 263 people were successfully evacuated by IOM from Tripoli on Thursday night.

IOM staff reported increased shooting in the area around the port as evening approached and with the IOM chartered boat still in dock.

Among those evacuated were Egyptians, Lebanese, Algerians, Filipinos, Americans, Swiss, Lebanese, Italians, Indians, Sudanese, a German, a Canadian and an Iraqi.

The migrants, en route to Benghazi, will be temporarily accommodated at a transit centre before being taken by IOM to the Egyptian border and eventually assisted to return to their home countries.

IOM staff in Tripoli say that getting migrants scattered across the city to the port is the single most challenging issue of the operation.

Continued fighting in parts of the city, the many checkpoints and sniper fire represent the main obstacles to movement within the city as well as lack of fuel.

“Movement is extremely slow as well as dangerous. Crossing checkpoints manned by different groups with different demands is very challenging,” says IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Pasquale Lupoli. “And then there are snipers.”

Although IOM managed to get the 263 migrants to the port through arrangements with some concerned embassies and other parties, the Organization remains deeply concerned that migrants who want and need evacuation assistance may not be able to get it because they cannot get to the port.

Some, such as Sub-Saharan Africans, are largely on the outskirts of Tripoli and far from the port vicinity.

The second evacuation operation will aim to assist groups of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Filipino, Indian and Egyptian migrants.

For further information, please contact Jean Philippe Chauzy, Tel: + 41 22 717 9361/+41 79 285 4366, Email: jpchauzy@iom.int or Jemini Pandya, IOM Geneva, Tel: + 41 22 717 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374 Email: jpandya@iom.int or Jumbe Omari Jumbe Tel: + 41 22 717 9405/+ 41 79 812 7734 Email: jjumbe@iom.int