UN provides food for over 2,200 refugees in Libya

Tripoli, Sep 24 The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it has provided more than 2,200 refugees in Libya with food packages this week.

The food packages were distributed to refugees and asylum-seekers in the cities of Zawiya, Misurata and Zwara, as part of UNHCR's food assistance program with the World Food Program, Xinhua news agency quoted the global bosy as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

The commissioner said that the joint program, supported by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, is expanding as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Libya.

"Coronavirus-related movement restrictions and curfews have made it difficult for people to find daily work, while food prices have also sharply risen, making it hard for families to feed themselves," the statement said.

The UNHCR also said that the distribution is being scaled up to target 10,000 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya.

On Wednesday, the reception centre of the Libyan anti-illegal immigration department in Tripoli called on international organizations to provide humanitarian relief to the illegal immigrants there.

"Libya is not a safe country to return refugees to," the UNHCR reiterated.

Following the 2011 fall of former leader Gaddafi's government, Libya has been plagued by a state of insecurity and chaos that prompts thousands of illegal migrants to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe.

Many illegal immigrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by authorities, remain detained in overcrowded reception centres in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close them.

( With inputs from IANS )