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Africa North
40 63 Kurdish migrants stranded in Libya to be repatriated next Saturday
2025-10-24
[Rudaw] A group of 40 migrants colonists, all from the Kurdistan Region, will be repatriated to Iraq from Libya next Saturday, said an official.

"The return of 40 of the migrants colonists will take place next Saturday," Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, told Rudaw on Wednesday, adding they have already given flight tickets to the migrants colonists for "the voluntary return."

Sahaf added they have also begun procedures for the return of the dead body of a Kurdish migrant, named Hogir Aso Khidir, who died of a heart attack on Tuesday.

The Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli "urgently initiated procedures to transfer his body and coordinated fully with his family and relatives."

The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.

The Libya-Italia journey typically takes around eight hours, compared to up to 72 hours through Greece, but can cost as much as $17,000 per person, much of it paid to militias that control Libya’s coast, according to Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees (ARR).

Iraq locates 23 more Kurdish migrants in Libya

[Rudaw] Twenty-three migrants from the Kurdistan Region have been located in Libya after arriving in the north African country on their journey to Europe, a senior official from Iraq’s embassy in Tripoli said on Thursday.

"An additional 23 migrants, who had illegally entered Libya, were located," Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli, told Rudaw, adding some of them are under 18 years old.

The Iraqi diplomat explained that finding the last group was possible due to coordination with relevant authorities in Tripoli.

"We immediately started procedures to prove their identities to facilitate their return to Iraq, in coordination with the Libyan authorities," Sahaf said.

He said they have already established contact with their families to "assure them of the safety [of their sons]."

Sahaf said on Wednesday that they had readied credentials for a total of 40 migrants - all from the Kurdistan Region - ahead of their repatriation to Iraq on Saturday. They too had entered Libya to use its waterways to illegally move to Europe.

The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.

Iraq has already repatriated 68 migrants from Libya so far, according to Sahaf.

Rudaw reported in July that increasing numbers of youth from Sulaimani’s Raparin administration have turned to the Libya-Italy route to reach Europe, as tighter restrictions have made the traditional Turkey-Greece crossing less viable.
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Posted by:trailing wife

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