Libya’s eastern security authorities have returned 602 migrants to Chad following security operations in areas controlled by military commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces, an official said.
Abdulmenam al-Ghomati, a spokesperson for the interior ministry’s agency responsible for tackling irregular migration, said the migrants were sent back on Wednesday after being detained in recent raids or while attempting to enter Libya illegally.
The operations took place across cities and districts controlled by Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which holds eastern Libya and much of the south.
Ghomati said the migrants were transported by truck to the Chadian border in an operation lasting a day and a half. Images released by the agency’s Benghazi media office showed pickup vehicles carrying dozens of migrants in a remote area during the deportations.
He said the campaign was continuing under orders from Saddam Haftar, the force’s deputy commander-in-chief, to raid and empty homes rented by migrants in residential neighbourhoods.
Authorities described the campaign as aimed at protecting the country and its borders.
Libya remains divided between rival administrations in the east and west. Since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, it has become a major transit point for people fleeing conflict and poverty and seeking to reach Europe through dangerous desert journeys and Mediterranean crossings.
UN data collected in May and June put the number of migrants across Libya’s 100 municipalities at well above 900,000.
