The government on Thursday, March 21, received 91 asylum seekers from Libya, under a programme supported by the UN Refugee Agency.

The group is the 17th cohort of asylum seekers who have been deported to Rwanda since 2019 when an emergency transit mechanism was set up by the Rwandan government and the UN refugee agency and the African Union.

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The group that arrived at Kigali International Airport on Thursday comprised 38 Sudanese nationals, 33 Eritreans, 11 Somalis, seven Ethiopians and two South Sudanese.

"Rwanda remains committed to offering refuge to people in need,” the Ministry in charge of Emergency Management said in a post on X.

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While in Rwanda, their asylum claims are examined and they can get resettled in third countries that accept them.

Rwanda has received more than 2,000 refugees & asylum seekers from Libya. Up to 1,600 of them have been resettled in third countries, the ministry said.

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Up to 496 were resettled in Canada, 255 in Sweden, 237 in the USA, 201 in Finland, 196 in Norway, 141 in France, 52 in Netherlands, and 26 in Belgium.

In 2019, the Rwandan government offered to host some migrants, mainly from Africa, who were being held in Libyan detention facilities run by militias and being sold as slaves.

At the time, the UN estimated up to 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were held in the detention centres.

By the end of September 2023, Rwanda was home to more than 135,000 refugees mainly from DR Congo and Burundi, according to the UN.