PHOTOS: Rwanda receives over 100 refugees from Libya
Friday, June 14, 2024
The rescued African refugees on arrival at the Kigali International Airport. Courtesy.

Rwandan immigration officers on Thursday, June 13, received 113 refugees from Libya.

The latest arrivals, originating from South Sudan, Eritrea, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Somalia, are the 18th cohort of asylum seekers who have been evacuated from the North African country under an emergency transit mechanism of the Rwandan government and the United Nations refugee agency.

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Through the mechanism, which was set up in 2019 to support African asylum seekers stranded in Libyan detention facilities, Rwanda has received more than 2,300 of such asylum seekers.

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Rwanda remains committed to contributing in finding solutions to the global crisis and providing support to people in need, the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a post on X.

Through the mechanism, asylum claims are processed in Rwanda. More than 1,600 of the migrants have been settled in third countries.

Rwanda is home to more than 130,000 refugees, mainly from DR Congo and Burundi.

The latest cohort of refugees go through airport migration procedures shortly after touching down at the Kigali International Airport.
This is the 18th cohort of migrants evacuated from Libya and airlifted to safety in Rwanda since 2019.
More than 2,300 asylum seekers have been transferred to Rwanda from Libya since 2019, as part of a tripartite Emergency Transit Mechanism deal that involved Rwanda, UNHCR and the African Union. More than 1,600 of the migrants have since been processed and relocated to third parfty countries.