As IOM continues a marathon operation to help tens of thousands of
migrants fleeing the Libyan crisis, larger numbers of Sub-Saharan
Africans are managing to escape across Libya's borders and to be
assisted home.

IOM is today, 10 March, evacuating 1,052 Bangladeshi,
Sub-Saharan Africans and Filipino migrants from Tunisia, Egypt and
Malta.

Although the majority of those returning home (791) are
Bangladeshis who still represent the largest group of migrants
stranded at both the Egyptian and Tunisian borders, 349 Nigerians,
Ghanaians, Malians, Mauritanians, Guineans, Nigeriens, Senegalese,
Togolese, Sierra Leonian, Beninese and Cameroonians, are also being
evacuated.

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Among the 1,713 migrants evacuated by IOM on Wednesday were a
group of 295 Ghanaians as well as a Sudanese.

"Although the numbers of Africans fleeing to the borders still
remain comparatively small, they are mounting. This is an
encouraging sign given our strong concerns over the targeting of
Sub-Saharan Africans inside Libya," says Mohamed Abdiker, IOM's
Director of Operations.

As IOM works to ensure that all the migrants stranded are helped
as quickly as possible with particular focus having been given to
first the Egyptians and then the Bangladeshis, with large numbers
of the latter still awaiting assistance, charter and commercial
flights are being used simultaneously to assist African migrants
home as fast as possible.

With support from donor governments including the British,
Belgian, French, Italian, Austrian, Irish, Swiss, Swedish and the
US as well as UNHCR, IOM will have helped nearly 21,000 migrants
from many countries to return safely home to their countries by
today. Recent efforts have focused on securing support for
long-haul charter flights to enable the return home of thousands of
Bangladeshis in particular.

More than 20,000 migrants are today still stranded in Tunisia
and Egypt, awaiting evacuation assistance with an average of 6,000
still arriving at the two borders alone on a daily basis.

In the past three weeks, more than 252,000 people have crossed
into Tunisia, Egypt, Niger and Algeria.

For further information, please contact:

In Ras Adjir/Djerba, Tunisia,

Jumbe Omari Jumbe

Tel: + 41 79 812 7734

E-mail: "mailto:jjumbe@iom.int">jjumbe@iom.int

In Geneva, Switzerland,

Jemini Pandya

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

       + 41 79 217 3374

E-mail: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int