Mohamed* was just 14 years old when he left Somalia, entrusting his life to traffickers in hopes of reaching Europe. In Libya, he was tortured and almost died from tuberculosis. Thanks to a humanitarian corridor, the 17-year-old was able to transfer to Italy and receive medical care.
Salif* has attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea six times in the past four years in the hope of reaching Europe from Libya. The 19-year-old Sub-Saharan migrant told InfoMigrants how the departures from the Libyan coast work. He says traffickers and Libyan coast guard officers are sometimes the same people.
The head of the Libyan national unity government, Abdulhamid Al Dabaiba, made an official visit to Rome on Monday in which Italian Premier Mario Draghi reiterated that "rapid and determined EU action is needed" regarding migrant flows.
InfoMigrants By InfoMigrants Published on : 2021/05/28
Almost 500 migrants were returned to Libya by the coast guard on Thursday. The International Organization for Migration said all were taken to detention centers.
The UN migration agency, IOM, said that 308 people, including five children, were intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on Thursday, May 27. The migrants had set off in three rubber boats and a wooden boat from the Libyan city of Zuwara, west of Tripoli. More than a hundred of the migrants were from Sudan.
Earlier the same day, another boat carrying 187 people was also intercepted. The IOM said that they were provided with emergency assistance before being taken into detention centers.
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Following the April 11 release of Bija, an alleged Libyan trafficker who has been accused of crimes against humanity by the UN, several migrants told InfoMigrants about their experiences at the hands of this feared boss of the Libyan coast guard in Zaouia. A monster. (C)apable of shooting a human being as he would shoot an animal.
Three days after the release of alleged migrant trafficker Abd al-Rahman Milad, better known by his alias Bija, for lack of evidence , those who had dealings with him draw a chilling picture. In Libya, there is not one migrant who does not know Bija, says Mamadou, who fled Libya to return to his home country, Guinea. He is worse than the devil, he says.