Halima and a group of migrants escaped from a detention center in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Friday. They were held there with thousands of others after they were arrested during a security campaign carried out by the Libyan authorities.

Yesterday, Saturday, Halima spoke of feeling "extremely tired" and "humiliated" for a week and her overwhelming desire to leave forever.

"They attacked and humiliated us, and many of us were injured," said Sudanese asylum seeker Halima Mukhtar Bishara, 27.

The young woman, who comes from the Darfur region, adds, "We feel very tired... and currently they are in the street, even the (United Nations refugee agency) UNHCR refuses to open the doors for us."

Halima, along with hundreds of others, began a sit-in in front of the local office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which was temporarily suspended this week due to the increasing pressure of migrants on it.

In front of the UNHCR building, dozens of migrants and refugees - including children - have been sleeping on the ground for several days, in the absence of any health and service components, in the hope that they will be taken care of.

The protesters raised banners bearing slogans such as "We, the migrants in the State of Libya, demand the organization and the authorities responsible for the refugees to evacuate us from this country because it is not safe," and "Immediate evacuation, I am a refugee, I am a human being."


mass escape

Many migrants from Niger, Sudan and Eritrea have fled their countries of conflict, poverty and corruption to try to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe on perilous journeys on rickety inflatable boats.

Those who failed to leave have been stuck in a country that has been in chaos since 2011 and is frequently criticized by humanitarian organizations for the mistreatment of migrants and refugees.

The Libyan authorities launched a campaign last weekend in a poor suburb of the capital, Tripoli, where the majority of migrants and asylum seekers reside, killing one person and wounding at least 15, according to the United Nations.

According to several NGOs, nearly 5,000 migrants were arrested and detained during the operation, which was officially declared to be aimed at combating the drug trade.

"We were 39 people living in one apartment," says Halima. "My three children and I are the only ones who avoided arrest."

However, after "hiding for 3 days", she and her children were arrested and placed in the Mabani Center.

On Friday, about two thousand migrants and refugees managed to escape from this center, while 6 others were shot dead by Libyan guards, according to the International Organization for Migration, which condemned the "terrible" conditions in the overcrowded center.


skin colour

"The place was so overcrowded that we were not allowed to sleep. There was no place to lie," says Ismail Darab, who managed to escape.

"We just want to leave this country," added the asylum seeker, driven by extreme poverty to migrate.

In turn, asylum seeker Wafag Idris, 31, says, "I am asking for evacuation from Libya because it is not a safe country."

He stressed that the Libyan authorities, during the campaign to "combat drug trafficking", targeted migrants "based on the color of their skin... The situation in Tripoli is unbearable for blacks."

"We are exposed to all dangers. Our lives are under threat," the Sudanese youth continued.

Hours before the mass escape the day before yesterday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees renewed its call on the Libyan authorities to "allow the resumption of humanitarian flights outside the country, which have been suspended for nearly a year."

Migration to Europe began through the Italian coast, about 300 km away, during the era of the late President Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in 2011 in the midst of a popular uprising.

But it has increased dramatically in the last decade, which was characterized by chaos, in the midst of which increased smuggling and human trafficking.