[ 2011-04-19 ]

More Ghanaian migrants rescued from Libyan city of Misrata
Ghanaian migrants formed the majority of many
migrants rescued by the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) in tension-zone Misrata in the
early hours of Monday, April 18, according to an
IOM statement.

It said the IOM rescue mission evacuated closely
1,000 foreign workers and wounded Libyans from
Misrata with a chartered boat.

According to the IOM report, 650 of the rescued
migrants were Ghanaians.

“The Ionian Spirit teamed out of Misrata
carrying 971 people, most of them weak and
dehydrated migrants mainly from Ghana, the
Philippines and Ukraine, heading for the rebel
stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya,”
according to a Reuters report.

IOM, said there are 100 Libyans among those
rescued, 23 of whom are war-wounded, including a
child shot in the face and an amputee.

The Voice of America (VOA) news quoted the IOM
spokeswoman, Jemini Pandya as saying “the
situation is deteriorating hour by hour, with
shelling going on almost continuously”.

She said the rescue mission was carried out under
extremely risky circumstances.

Pandya, as reported by VOA, said it is becoming
increasingly difficult to carry out further rescue
missions.

She said IOM is very worried about the 4,000
migrants who are stuck at Misrata's port, which
she said time was running out for them.

Jeremy Haslam, who led the IOM rescue operations
on the boat, said: "We wanted to be able to take
more people out but it was not possible."

The first evacuation mission Friday, April 15 had
the IOM-chartered boat successfully rescued nearly
1,200 migrants from Misrata to Benghazi from where
virtually all of them were later taken by road to
Salum for further assistance, according to the
IOM.

Misrata, the stronghold of the rebels, has been
under siege by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for
almost two months.

The popular political revolt in the oil-rich state
compelled the government of Ghana to constitute
the Evaluation Liaison Post at Salum, a border
post on the Egypt-Libya border, to save Ghanaians
at risk. Their work has, however, been suspended
upon the no-fly zone imposed on Libya by the UN
and the intensity of the crisis.

So far 16,822 Ghanaians are said to have been
rescued in excess of the anticipated 10,000 by the
government.

The first batch of 55 Ghanaians arrived in Accra
on Saturday, February 26, 2011.

Source - Stephen Yeboah

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