A hundred more asylum seekers arrived in Rwanda from Libya on Tuesday evening, joining 843 others awaiting resettlement.
This is the eighth flight of evacuees to Rwanda, and the first this year, since the Emergency Transit Mechanism began in September 2019.
Most asylum seekers are from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia. Some had been living in the Libyan capital Tripoli, while others had been arbitrarily held in detention, some for several months.
The 100 evacuees will join 269 refugees and asylum seekers currently hosted at the transit centre in Gashora, Bugesera, as they await resettlement to third countries, return to countries of origin, or residence in Rwanda, among other options.
According to the UN refugees agency, UNHCR, more than 620 asylum seekers have been resettled in third countries since 2019.
This is the second flight of evacuees received since Rwanda, the African Union, and UNHCR signed an addendum to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) of the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in November. It extended the operation of the Gashora-based transit centre to accommodate refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable people at risk in Libya until December 31, 2023.
Covid-19 travel restrictions hampered the resettlement exercise, which resumed in 2021 with two flights.
