Refugees leave Libya

2009-11-10 22:52

Sabratha - The number of illegal immigrants being held by Libya has fallen to under 2 000 thanks to the country's policy of repatriation, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"Fewer than 2 000 immigrants are being held in 12 detention centres across the country," Colonel Mohammed Beshir, a senior passport office official, told AFP on the sidelines of a workshop on illegal immigration.

A Western expert who attended the forum in the city of Sabratha, west of Tripoli, told AFP on condition of anonymity that two years ago Libya was holding more than 6 000 illegal immigrants.

"Over the past few months Libya has massively repatriated illegal immigrants and this explains the decrease in the numbers of those in detention," the expert said.

Libya is a major transit nation for Africans - many recently from the Horn of Africa - risking their lives in rickety boats to make the Mediterranean crossing.

Last year, about 35 000 illegal immigrants arrived on Italian shores. Of them, 75% sought political or humanitarian asylum, half of whom obtained it, according to the UN refugee agency.

Italy and Libya co-operate

In May, Rome and Tripoli reached a controversial agreement that allows the Italian navy to intercept illegal migrants at sea and return them to Libya, triggering sharp criticism from the UNHCR and rights groups.

"Libya does not have the conditions needed to provide a solution with adequate protection for refugees or asylum seekers at the moment," UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres, said in September.

"There are detention circumstances that are appalling and there is a possibility that people that deserve and need protection will be sent back to their countries of origin," he told reporters in Brussels.

But the Libyan official insists his country does not impose repatriation.

Libya "cannot repatriate migrants against their will", Beshir said, while adding that "there are problems with the Somalis (migrants)" because their country has been torn by civil war since 1991.

Meanwhile, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and Libyan counterpart Abdelfattah Laabidi met in Tripoli on Tuesday for follow-up talks on the May agreement, state-run JANA news agency reported.

Maroni pledged that Rome would continue to provide Libya with financial and technical support to monitor its coastline, the agency said.

And Laabidi stressed that the number of migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya dropped by 90% since the deal was struck on May 7, JANA added.

- SAPA