Rwanda receives 164 asylum seekers evacuated from Libya

KIGALI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), received 164 asylum seekers evacuated from Libya on Wednesday, according to the Rwandan Ministry in charge of Emergency Management.

The latest group brings the total number of people evacuated to Rwanda since 2019 to 2,924, of whom 2,585 have already been resettled in third countries, data from the UNHCR showed.

The new arrivals include individuals from Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, with the majority -- 143 people -- from Sudan, followed by Eritrea with 19, the ministry said in a post on X.

The evacuees will be temporarily hosted at the Gashora transit center in eastern Rwanda's Bugesera District, from where they will wait for processing to relocate to other countries, according to the ministry.

The evacuation is in line with a 2019 memorandum of understanding Rwanda signed with the UNHCR and the African Union, under which a transit mechanism was set up to provide lifesaving protection, assistance, and long-term solutions to refugees trapped in Libya through a temporary evacuation to Rwanda. ■