At least 27 suspected migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have died in recent days in the country’s western desert near the border with Tunisia, Libyan authorities said.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Libya’s Interior Ministry said late Tuesday the bodies were discovered recently near the border and that a forensic team had been deployed to the area. In the same post, the ministry published pictures of African migrants receiving treatment from Libyan medical teams, reports AlArabia English News service
Mohamed Hamouda, a spokesperson for the Libyan government, on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of the bodies to The Associated Press, but declined to provide any further details.
In recent months, Tunisian security forces began removing some migrants from coastal areas, busing them elsewhere and, migrants say, dumping some of them in the desert. Earlier this month, Tunisia’s Interior Minister admitted that small groups of sub-Saharan migrants trying to enter the country are being pushed back into the desert border areas with Libya and Algeria.
Tunisia’s eastern coast has overtaken neighboring Libya as the region’s main launching point for migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, trying to get to Italy and other parts of Europe in small boats. With migrants pouring into the coastal city of Sfax and other launching points, tensions have risen between migrants and the local population.
The National Human Rights Committee in Libya, a local rights group that works with the Libyan authorities, said it believes Tunisian security forces had forcefully expelled the migrants, abandoning them in the desert without water or food.
Ahmed Hamza, head of the committee, told the AP the bodies were discovered by Libya’s border guard on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Libya’s border force denied recovering any dead bodies near the Tunisian border on Tuesday, but declined to comment further. The AP has been unable to reconcile the conflicting narratives.
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