News Investigators/ The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Thursday said that 134 Malian migrants have been deported from Libya to their country.
“IOM facilitated the voluntary humanitarian return of 134 migrants from Sebha, (southern) Libya to Bamako, Mali on 26 May,” it said in a statement.
Due to the insecurity and chaos that followed the 2011 ousting of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has become a hotspot for migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean towards European shores.
So far this year, 9,285 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya, while 160 migrants died and 234 others went missing on the central Mediterranean route, according to IOM data.
The Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme, run by IOM, arranges the return of illegal migrants stranded in Libya to their homeland.
According to IOM, more than 98,000 migrants have returned home safely with the programme since 2015.
Libya has urged the EU and countries affected by migration flows from Libya to provide more support in curbing illegal migration.
