Libyan Authorities Intensify Crackdown on Sudanese Refugees, Transfer Detainees to Holding Centres

Libyan security authorities have intensified a sweeping crackdown targeting Sudanese refugees and foreign migrants across eastern and western Libya, carrying out raids on homes, markets, and public areas in several cities.

The campaign comes amid escalating public debate in Libya over migrants and foreign labor, coinciding with protests outside the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tripoli last Thursday. Demonstrators accused international organizations of seeking to resettle foreign migrants inside Libya and forced the closure of the UNHCR office in the Serraj district.

Several Sudanese refugees in the city of Ajdabiya told Darfur24 that personnel from the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency and the Ajdabiya Security Directorate detained dozens of Sudanese nationals and other migrants in the industrial zone, the nationality affairs office, and on public streets.

Mahmoud, a Sudanese refugee in Ajdabiya, said security forces also raided family homes in residential neighborhoods, arresting dozens before transferring them to detention centers operated by the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency.