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Sudan forces stop 138 Africans entering Libya illegally
GOUZ ABUDLOAA , Sudan, Sept 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sudanese paramilitaries
said on Wednesday they have captured 138 Africans, including dozens of
Sudanese, trying to enter neighbouring Libya illegally.
Sudan’s feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said those captured
also included Chadian and Ethiopian nationals who were seized in a desert
area bordering Libya, Chad and Sudan.
“On September 19, an RSF patrol captured 138 people from different
nationalities trying to cross the border into Libya illegally,” the
paramilitary group said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the RSF escorted journalists to a desert area called Gouz
Abudloaa, about 100 kilometres north of Khartoum, where some of the detained
Africans are being held, an AFP correspondent reported.
The RSF also seized six vehicles belonging to Libyan smugglers who were
carrying the people, the statement said.
In recent years, members of the RSF, once accused of widespread rights
abuses in Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur, have been deployed along the
border with Libya to prevent people smuggling.
Sudan lies at the heart of migratory routes that connect East and West
Africa to the Mediterranean and Europe.
Thousands of African nationals attempt to reach the Mediterranean through
Sudan every year with a plan to ultimately reach European shores.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:25 hrs