Libyan Interior Minister Khaled Mazen (Front) gives a speech at an opening ceremony of a reception center for illegal Arab immigrants in Tripoli, Libya, on March 9, 2022. Libya's immigration control authority opened a reception center on Wednesday in the south of Tripoli to house illegal immigrants from other Arab countries. (Photo by Hamza Turkia/Xinhua)
TRIPOLI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Libya's immigration control authority opened a reception center on Wednesday in the south of the capital Tripoli to house illegal immigrants from other Arab countries.
The Tareeq al-Matar Reception Center of the Illegal Immigration Control Department is opened "specifically for men from brotherly Arab countries, such as Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria," Mohamed al-Khoja, head of the Illegal Immigration Control Department, told Xinhua.
"This Center was rehabilitated to be a completed center with medical clinics, rehabilitation units, workshops, and sports fields. There are 10 other centers planned to be rehabilitated for Arab and African (migrants)," he said.
Interior Minister Khaled Mazen told an opening ceremony that the Center is properly equipped with humanitarian facilities and has a capacity of 1,500 people.
"This is not a prison or a detention center. It is a station where migrants receive care until proper circumstances are available for them to return home," Mazen said.
Many illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya, which has been suffering from chaos since 2011 when former leader Muammar Qaddafi was overthrown.
So far this year, nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants have been rescued at sea and returned to Libya, including women and children, according to the International Organization for Migration. ■