1st Wave of Migrants Evacuated from Libya Heads to Rwanda

By Associated Press

FILE - Migrants are seen at the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in al-Nasr detention center in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, Libya, April 26, 2019.

KIGALI, RWANDA - The first evacuation flight of refugees and asylum-seekers is set to arrive in Rwanda in the latest effort to divert and care for thousands of Africans whose efforts to reach Europe fail.

The East African nation's agreement to take in 500 people who have been trapped in crowded Libyan detention centers has raised questions and concerns. It is not clear how long they will be held in Rwanda, whether they will be offered refugee status and what happens if no other country agrees to take them permanently.

The United Nations refugee agency says the first group of 75 people is arriving later Thursday.

The Rwanda option emerged after various European Union-funded efforts to stem the dramatically slowing tide of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

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