The United Nations refugee agency on Thursday confirmed a total of 149 Africans in Libya were evacuated to Italy. Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army launched an offensive on the capital, Tripoli, the base of the UN-backed Fayez Al Sarraj’s internationally-recognized government.
“Amid violent clashes and a deteriorating security situation in Tripoli, 149 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers were evacuated to safety in Rome,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement, reported Reuters.
As per the statement, the 149 refugees and asylum-seekers who have been shifted to Rome are from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Many of them are malnourished and needs immediate medical treatment after detention in Tripoli. The refugee group included 65 children, 13 of them babies under a year old.
Another 62 Syrians and Africans were evacuated earlier this week to Timisoara, Romania, where they are receiving treatment before going to Norway, the statement said.
The UN refugee agency made an appeal to other states to come forward and help people escape deteriorating conditions in Tripoli after two months of fighting.
“More humanitarian evacuations are needed,” said Jean-Paul Cavalieri, UNHCR mission chief in Libya. “They are a vital lifeline for refugees whose only other escape route is to put their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers on the Mediterranean Sea.”
UNHCR said that risks were rising for refugees and migrants as new detainees are arriving at a faster pace than people are departing.
Notably, around 1,000 people have been evacuated from Libya or resettled so far in 2019. In May alone more than 1,200 people were returned by the Libyan coast guard after being intercepted trying to cross the Mediterranean. The clashes between rival forces in Libya and heavy bombardments have forced more than 83,000 Libyans to flee their homes since the start of April.
