Libya deports 600 people back to Niger
Over 600 people have been forcibly deported from Libya to Niger on a “dangerous and traumatising” journey across the Sahara, thought to be one of the largest expulsions from Libya to date, reports The Guardian on January 10th.
The International Organisation for migration, or IOM, said 613 Nigerien nationals arrived in the desert town of Dirkou in Niger last weekend in a convoy of trucks, part of a huge number of migrant workers rounded up by Libyan authorities in the last month.
“This is something new. There was one expulsion of 400 people last July, but this convoy is the largest number to date,” said Azizou Chehou from migrant distress response charity Alarm Phone Sahara.
The Guardian
