Over 100 asylum seekers evacuated from Libya to Rwanda: UN agency

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday that it evacuated more than 100 asylum seekers from Libya to Rwanda.

“More than 100 vulnerable asylum seekers have been evacuated on a flight out of Libya to Rwanda,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

The asylum seekers, including 38 children, are from different African countries, it added.

“We are also grateful to the relevant Libyan authorities for their support in facilitating necessary formalities for these humanitarian evacuation flights,” it noted.

Many undocumented migrants, mostly from Africa, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya, which has been suffering chaos since 2011 when the late former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 14,157 illegal immigrants have been rescued at sea and returned to Libya so far in 2022