IOM: More than 3000 African refugees forgotten at Camp in Libya

The international organisation of migration (IOM) has announced that it is now looking together with other NGOs how it can help around 3,000 - 4,000 African migrants in a camp on the southern outskirts of the town of Al Kufrah, Libya, living under basic shelter and without access to running water, sanitation, electricity or security. IOM Spokesperson Jemini Pandya said in a press briefing issued here Tuesday that an assessment mission has found the migrants in that remote Libyan town. "The camp was established many years ago for the many African migrants transiting the area en route to Benghazi or to Europe in search of work but has limited oversight. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Libya, an estimated 15,000 migrants lived there, mainly Chadians and Sudanese", she explained. "Now the camp population fluctuates on a daily basis as migrants arrive or leave for Benghazi some 600 kms away, or elsewhere", she added. Accommodation consists largely of whatever material migrants can find to act as a cover over wooden branches and straw roofs and is flimsy at best. Migrants expressed their concern to IOM about security issues and the lack of electricity and health care facilities in the camp. With no surrounding fence or wall around the camp to protect it, the migrants said they suffered much from theft, physical assault and sometimes murder as people enter the camp at night and steal their belongings at gunpoint. A representative for the Chadian migrants at the camp told IOM that about 1,000 of his compatriots want to return home but have no money to pay for transport with many Sudanese migrants also in a similar position.The international organisation of migration (IOM) has announced that it is now looking together with other NGOs how it can help around 3,000 - 4,000 African migrants in a camp on the southern outskirts of the town of Al Kufrah, Libya, living under basic shelter and without access to running water, sanitation, electricity or security. IOM Spokesperson Jemini Pandya said in a press briefing issued here Tuesday that an assessment mission has found the migrants in that remote Libyan town. "The camp was established many years ago for the many African migrants transiting the area en route to Benghazi or to Europe in search of work but has limited oversight. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Libya, an estimated 15,000 migrants lived there, mainly Chadians and Sudanese", she explained. "Now the camp population fluctuates on a daily basis as migrants arrive or leave for Benghazi some 600 kms away, or elsewhere", she added. Accommodation consists largely of whatever material migrants can find to act as a cover over wooden branches and straw roofs and is flimsy at best. Migrants expressed their concern to IOM about security issues and the lack of electricity and health care facilities in the camp. With no surrounding fence or wall around the camp to protect it, the migrants said they suffered much from theft, physical assault and sometimes murder as people enter the camp at night and steal their belongings at gunpoint. A representative for the Chadian migrants at the camp told IOM that about 1,000 of his compatriots want to return home but have no money to pay for transport with many Sudanese migrants also in a similar position.