An Italian Coast Guard official stated that 53,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, from Libya in 2022. This is an increase of 70% compared to 2021, according to the AKI news agency.
This was stated by Admiral Giuseppe Aulicino, Head of the Plans and Operations Department of the General Command of the Italian Coast Guard. He told a hearing of the Constitutional Affairs and Transport Committees that NGO ships operating on the Cyrenaica-Lampedusa line had rescued more than 11,000 people, 34% of whom departed from western Libya.
He noted that a total of 105,000 migrants arrived by sea in 2022, an increase of 56% over the previous year. 1,401 of them departed from Algeria, and 32,000 from Tunisia, an increase of 60% compared to 2021.
According to the official, there are two flow lines from Libya: the Tripoli region in the West, where 33,000 migrants departed, and the Cyrenaica region in the East, where 20,000 migrants departed. As well as 17,000 migrants coming via the eastern Mediterranean route (Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria).
Earlier this month, the 128th Enhanced Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced that it had stopped 360 migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, via the coast of Sirte.
In a statement, the LNA-affiliated brigade indicated that they handed the migrants over to the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), along with their belongings, money, mobile phones, and passports.
Libya is a key departure point for migrants seeking to reach European shores, often in poorly-maintained vessels.
The Italian news agency, Nova reported that LNA Naval forces, in the east of the country, intercepted and returned around 3,400 migrants in the last five weeks.
“This is significant progress in combating human trafficking along the eastern Libyan route, from Cyrenaica towards Europe,” Nova said in its report.
According to the Libyan office of the IOM, Libya’s eastern authorities intercepted at sea 3,404 people and returned them to Libya in the last five weeks of 2022.