Tripoli, Feb 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that 116 illegal immigrants were voluntarily deported from Libya to Niger.
A total of "116 Nigerien migrants arrived yesterday in Niamey by charter flight with support from IOM Libya," IOM tweeted on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The IOM staff on the ground assisted (the migrants) with registration, medical assistance and onward transportation," the IOM said.
The IOM runs the Voluntary Humanitarian Return program, which arranges the return of illegal immigrants stranded in Libya to their countries of origin.
More than 650,000 illegal immigrants are currently staying in Libya, including about 6,000 being held in detention centres, the IOM estimated.
The illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe from Libya because of the insecurity and chaos in the North African country since the 2011 uprising that toppled the late leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz