ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of 40 Kurds from the Kurdistan Region who had been stranded in Libya after trying to reach Europe are on their way back home, an Iraqi official in Tripoli confirmed on Saturday. Preparations are ongoing to repatriate another 35 Kurds.
"The plane carrying 40 Iraqi migrants has taken off, heading to Istanbul and then to Erbil," Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at Iraq’s diplomatic mission in Tripoli, told Rudaw.
The embassy made "exceptional efforts to coordinate their return and are preparing to repatriate another 35 migrants,” Sahaf added.
"We thank the relevant authorities in the Government of National Unity in Libya," he said. "We provided food, medicine, and care, and arranged travel tickets in cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq."
He said they have so far arranged the return of a total of 122 Kurds from the north African country since late December 2023.
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"We will continue our awareness campaigns regarding the dangers of human trafficking and smuggling networks that prey on our citizens," he added.
Earlier this week, the Iraqi mission located another 23 Kurds who arrived in Libya on route to Europe.
The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.
The Libya-Italy route is increasingly popular among youth from Sulaimani’s Raparin administration as tighter restrictions have made the Turkey-Greece crossing less viable.
The Libya-Italy journey typically takes around eight hours, compared to up to 72 hours through Greece, but can cost as much as $17,000 per person, much of it paid to militias that control Libya’s coast, according to Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees.