Libya deports 456 irregular migrants to their countries

The Anti-Illegal Migration Agency in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, deported 456 irregular immigrants who hold Egyptian and Nigerian nationalities to their countries on Monday.

This came in statements by the GNU Minister of Interior, Emad Trabelsi, to journalists, including the Anadolu news agency correspondent, while he was at the headquarters of the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in Tripoli.

Trabelsi said, “Our presence today is to supervise the deportation of some irregular migrants to their countries, in cooperation with all security services.”

“Migrants must be treated in a humane manner, and this requires more wisdom,” he added.

Trabelsi added, “Today, the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency deported 294 illegal migrants holding Egyptian nationality and returned them to their countries for entering Libyan territory illegally, in coordination with the relevant authorities in Egypt.”

He confirmed that 162 irregular migrants holding Nigerian citizenship were deported, including 102 who were arrested at the Libyan-Tunisian border during the past few days while trying to enter Libya.

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He pointed out that “Libya suffers greatly from the phenomenon of illegal migration.”

Trabelsi noted that “the agency will work in the coming days to deport 300 irregular migrants holding African nationalities, after completing the official procedures.”

On 10 August, the Libyan Ministry of Interior announced the evacuation of irregular migrants stranded in the border area with Tunisia, while its Tunisian counterpart said that the two countries agreed that each of them would welcome a group of them.

For two weeks, African migrants suffered very difficult humanitarian conditions on the Tunisian-Libyan border, after they were expelled from their homes following clashes with Tunisians in the Sfax governorate (south) over the killing of a Tunisian youth by African migrants.