The Rwandan government on Tuesday agreed to take in hundreds of African refugees held in Libyan detention centers under a “life-saving” agreement reached with the UN refugee agency and the African Union, reported The Guardian.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Amb. Hope Tumukunde on behalf of Government, Mrs. Amira ElFadil, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, and Cosmas Chanda, refugees representative to the African Union in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The agreement was signed after repeated allegations of dire conditions for migrants in Libya’s detention centres, including insufficient food, routine abuse, and lack of medical care.
Under the deal, Rwanda would accept a batch of 500 people who agreed to leave Libya, mostly from the Horn of Africa, and house them in a transit facility outside the capital of Kigali. Evacuation flights to Rwanda are likely to begin in the coming weeks and will be carried out in co-operation with Rwandan and Libyan authorities.
“Under the agreement, the government of Rwanda will receive and provide protection to refugees and asylum-seekers who are currently being held in detention centres in Libya,” UNHCR said in the statement.
Vincent Cochetel, who is the special envoy for the central Mediterranean for UNHCR said the number of refugees evacuated to Rwanda may be increased from 500 if they are satisfied with how the evacuation plan works.
“It really depends on the response of the international community to make it work,” Cochetel told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “But it means we have one more solution to the situation in Libya. It’s not a big fix, but it’s helpful.”
According to the United Nations, around 4,700 people are being held in Libyan detention centers and around 1,000 in a separate U.N. facility in Tripoli.
