Iraq
A boat carrying migrants stranded in the Strait of Gibraltar before rescue by Spanish coast guards. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of 40 migrants, all from the Kurdistan Region, will be repatriated to Iraq from Libya next Saturday, said an official.
"The return of 40 of the migrants will take place next Saturday," Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli, told Rudaw on Wednesday, adding they have already given flight tickets to the migrants for "the voluntary return."
Sahaf added they have also begun procedures for the return of the dead body of a Kurdish migrant, named Hogir Aso Khidir, who died of a heart attack on Tuesday.
The Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli "urgently initiated procedures to transfer his body and coordinated fully with his family and relatives."
The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.
The Libya-Italy journey typically takes around eight hours, compared to up to 72 hours through Greece, but can cost as much as $17,000 per person, much of it paid to militias that control Libya’s coast, according to Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees (ARR).
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