The Ambassador of Libya to Sudan, Fawzi Bomerriz stated that an Afriqiyah Airways plane took off today from Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport to Port Sudan International Airport. This is to repatriate the final batch of the 106-person Libyan community in Sudan.
“We met with the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, and discussed the evacuation of the first batch of the Libyan community from Port Sudan airport to Jeddah. We evacuated approximately 105 people over the past several days, and we also agreed to send urgent humanitarian aid to Sudan,” Bomerriz said.
“We met with Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush and reviewed the latest developments in the Sudanese arena, and stressed the need to repatriate the last batch of the community. The evacuations took place smoothly, in cooperation with the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who worked to overcome all the difficulties that we faced while performing our work.”
Notably, the recent outbreak of civil conflict in Sudan will have a negative effect on the situation in neighbouring Libya, particularly in the southern areas of the country, according to the Economist Intelligence website.
The fighting between Sudan’s military and paramilitary leadership threatens to derail plans to repatriate Sudanese mercenaries from Libya. Persistent political uncertainty in Libya, coupled with Sudan’s deepening conflict, is also likely to delay Libya’s political transition, and exacerbate security risks.
Libya relies on Sudan for joint coordination and data exchange, both to facilitate the return of Sudanese mercenaries from Libyan territory, and in relation to commercial trade (although bilateral trade is limited).
In mid‑February, local Sudanese news outlets reported positive steps in preparations to register mercenaries. This is to ultimately return them from Libya, but there is a lack of concrete information to confirm whether much progress has been achieved.
On 30 March, the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Abdoulaye Bathily visited Sudan to hold talks with the Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al‑Burhan. They discussed international efforts to withdraw foreign forces from Libyan territory.
The UN estimated that 11,000 Sudanese mercenaries were present in Libya in 2021.
According to UN estimates, a peaceful transition and reconstruction in Libya could potentially enhance economic performance in Sudan by US $22.7bn between 2021‑25.
