Libya and Sudan begin voluntary return plan for Sudanese migrants
Libya is set to coordinate the voluntary return of 467,000 Sudanese asylum seekers who entered the country after Sudan descended into a brutal civil war in April 2023, according to the Libya Review on December 7th.
The coordination is to be executed in tandem with the Sudanese government and was agreed upon during a meeting between Western Libya’s Interior Minister Emad al-Trabelsi and his Sudanese counterpart Babiker Samra Mustafa.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of a conference that was organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and came just days after the al-Trabelsi announced during a press conference in Tripoli that Sudanese refugees would be formally granted the same treatment as Libyan citizens.
He verified that Libya has received over 700,000 Sudanese nationals entering its territory since its south-eastern neighbour descended into armed conflict, with 467,000 being officially registered.
The IOM has previously estimated that the number of Sudanese migrants in Libya potentially exceeds 800,000, clarifying that the recent downturn in NGO operations within Libya has constrained data collection capacities.
Both ministers emphasised that the effort will be undertaken with extensive collaboration with the IOM, which will be crucial in implementing an organised, safe, and legal voluntary returns process.
Both states will adopt a strategy of “grouping and returning” the migrants through designated crossing points. Humanitarian standards will be monitored and upheld, while medical screening and documentation procedures will be enacted.
During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the pressing need to ramp up joint border controls to intercept and turn away asylum seekers. Libya’s Anti-Illegal Migration Authority recently expanded operations across southern cities and valleys as part of a new security plan to consolidate the country’s southern borders and limit migration.
Eastern-Libyan authorities have also committed to coordinating with Sudan to implement a voluntary return initiative. On December 3rd, the Illegal Migration Control Department in Benghazi hosted Sudan’s ambassador to discuss launching a comprehensive census that would document all Sudanese nationals residing in eastern, south-eastern, central, and southern Libya.
Libya Review, Maghrebi.org
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