With the Libyan crisis showing no signs of abating and thousands of
migrants fleeing the country on a daily basis and in need of
assistance to return home, IOM is today urgently appealing for
nearly USD 160 million to allow it continue providing critical
humanitarian and evacuation assistance.

Nearly 410,000 people have already fled the violence in Libya
since the crisis began in late February, the majority of them
migrants in need of evacuation assistance.

IOM, with the support of UNHCR and various governments, has
already evacuated nearly 84,000 migrants to their home countries.
In addition, IOM has safely evacuated at least 2,310 people from
Benghazi to Egypt by road or sea.

The appeal to the international community today would allow the
Organization to evacuate an additional 75,000 people who manage to
escape the violence in Libya as well as those groups inside the
country where possible. It would also enable the continued
provision of humanitarian assistance such as food and medical
attention at the border areas, travel health checks for all those
being evacuated and health referrals for particularly vulnerable
people in addition to providing reintegration assistance to some of
the returning Tunisian and Egyptian migrants.

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This is the third IOM appeal since the Libyan crisis began. So
far, the Organization has either been pledged or received USD 44
million, far short of what is required.

As a result, funding for IOM operations have now dried up. IOM
has been forced to dramatically reduce the number of people it can
evacuate on a daily basis from more than 6,000 a day at the height
of its operations to a bare minimum.

 

This is despite the fact that at least 6,000 people are fleeing
Libya each day towards Egypt and Tunisia alone and thousands more
towards Chad and Niger.

More than 12,000 migrants still remain stranded on Libya's
border with Tunisia and Egypt with more migrants in need of help in
Niger, Algeria and Chad.

Those waiting for help in Tunisia and Egypt have become
increasingly impatient to return home and are now looking to
alternatives out of their situation. 

IOM staff on the ground have reported that long evacuation
delays caused by a lack of funds is forcing some migrants to turn
to human smugglers to take them to Europe.

On Wednesday 30th March, 150 migrants were apprehended by the
Tunisian police at Sfax port, 150 km from the Choucha camp on the
Tunisian-Libyan border, attempting to escape by sea to the Italian
island of Lampedusa.

Meanwhile, the situation on the Libyan-Nigerien border continues
to be critical as more migrants continue to arrive at Dirkou, a
border town with a population of 4,000 people. 

IOM staff at Dirkou report that 30 lorries carrying migrants
that had been between Madama and Dirkou are now arriving in the
town, about 8 to 10 a day. Although they are mostly Nigerien, there
are several hundred migrants of other nationalities, including a
Palestinian family of 10 that asked IOM for food assistance.

The consul of Sabha, the main town in central Libya told IOM
that 34,000 migrants were stuck in the town with laissez passer
documents but had no means of transport to get out of the country
and needed food and water.

More than 20,000 fleeing migrants have crossed the Libyan border
into Niger so far, more than half of them in the past two
weeks.

"The increasing arrivals in Niger, Chad and now also Malta
highlight the enormous geographic spread of this migrant crisis
which is far from over. More than ever, we appeal to donors to
maintain stamina. We are in this for the long haul and we have to
collectively ensure that the plight of those fleeing the violence
in Libya is not prolonged due to a lack of funds," states IOM
Director General William Lacy Swing.

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: +41 22 717 9486

       +41 79 285 4366

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

Jemini Pandya

Tel: +41 22 717 9486

       +41 79 217 3374

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

or

Jumbe Omari Jumbe

Tel: +41 22 717 9405

       +41 79 812 7734

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