Libyan military officials say they have rounded up more than 300 migrants crossing the country's desert en route to the Mediterranean. Libya has long been a key transit route for migrants trying to reach Europe.
Hundreds of migrants trying to reach Mediterranean shores have been detained in Libya's vast desert, news agencies AP and Reuters reported on Monday (November 25) citing Libyan military officials.
The migrants were reportedly hoping to ultimately cross the Mediterranean Sea and make it to Europe.
According to AP and Reuters, the 444 Brigade released satellite photos of groups of people that appeared to be migrants sitting on the ground, surrounded by soldiers. The 444 Brigade is a powerful militia group that operates under the auspices of the Libyan army based in the capital Tripoli.
A desert patrol stopped the migrants, the brigade said on its Facebook page early on Monday, adding the migrants would be "referred to the competent authorities," according to Reuters. The force did not specify the time of the migrants' apprehension.
The group also condemned smuggling and human trafficking, saying its patrols would carry on trying to curb smuggling routes.
According to AP, the detention of migrants is rarely reported in Libya; however, the northern African country's state news service LANA reported more than 2,000 arrests in July.
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Dangerous Saharan, Mediterranean crossings
Some migrants aiming to reach Europe never reach the Mediterranean shore as they die in the Sahara desert, which covers large parts of Libya and the neighboring countries.
In October, the United Nations said it discovered another mass grave in a desert area along the Libyan-Tunisian border. This follows the discovery of the bodies of at least 65 migrants at another site this year in the region in March.
In recent months, there have been several reports about migrants from African countries being expelled from Libya and sent to different desert areas. In one case, more than 400 Nigerians were forced on a grueling journey of nearly 1,000 kilometers to the Niger desert.
According to the UN, the Sahara Desert is now more deadly for migrants than the Central Mediterranean route, where almost 1,500 migrants have died or gone missing so far this year.
In late October, a boat carrying 13 migrants, reportedly from Egypt and Syria, capsized off Libya, leaving all but one passenger dead. Also in October, at least one person died and two initially remained missing after a migrant boat with 100 passengers that had set off from Libya sank near the Greek island of Crete.
Torture and extortion
In addition to these mortal dangers, many migrants also experience torture, extortion and other abuses after being intercepted and returned by Libyan forces to Libya, where they are usually placed in detention centers run by the government, at least in western Libya.
According to the UN and many NGOs, the conditions at these facilities are extremely poor. Over the years, numerous reports have outlined severe hygiene shortcomings and widespread malnourishment.
In addition to official facilities, some Libyan detention centers are also run by smuggling gangs and other criminal organizations. The situation at these facilities is reportedly far worse than at the official facilities, with sexual assault, slavery, extortion, torture and murder recorded across the board.
In July, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said migrants in Libya had been subjected to torture, forced labor and starvation while being detained.
Libya plunged into turmoil following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising against longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Since 2014, the country has been split between western and eastern factions, with rival administrations governing from Tripoli and from Benghazi, each backed by militias and foreign powers. As a result of the political chaos, human traffickers have thriving for years.
Still, the country has become a key transit route for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty across Africa, parts of the Middle East and other areas, hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
According to news agency AP citing the UN refugee agency UNHCR, some 38,000 people have arrived in EU countries Italy and Malta from Libya this year.
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with AP, Reuters