Over 130 refugees airlifted to Niger from Libyan capital

Tripoli:A total of 131 refugees were evacuated to Niger from Tripoli, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday – tge World Refugee Day – urging states to help it airlift thousands more people to safety from war-torn Libya.
The refugees, from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, and including 65 minors, were evacuated from Tripoli late on Wednesday by the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger, which is run by the UNCHR.
Some of the refugees had been detained for over a year, the UNCHR said. They will now receive humanitarian assistance at the ETM while further options for them, such as resettlement, are pursued, it said.
“On World Refugee Day, for the first time in a long time, these refugees will be able to sleep at night knowing they and their families are out of harm’s way,” said Jean-Paul Cavalieri, UNHCR mission chief for Libya.
“We cannot underestimate just how important these life-saving evacuations are.” But more needed to be done, Cavalieri underlined.