CAIRO: An IOM-chartered boat will move hundreds of refugees from Benghazi to the Egyptian border city of Sallum on Wednesday. This will be the IOM's third rescue mission to transfer refugees rescued from besieged Libyan city of Misrata. “The lack of sanitation and the severe health risks it poses, as well as the constant shelling and firing are the biggest risks to their lives,” says IOM's operation leader Jeremy Haslam. “50 percent of Misrata streets is under rebel control, while the other 50 percent is controlled by Gaddafi's men,” pro-Gaddafi spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. Ongoing clashes broke out on Wednesday on Tripoli Street, a main thoroughfare leading to Misrata's city center. Many of Misrata's migrants have been camping in the port since the beginning of the Libyan crisis and there conditions are extremely poor. Without sanitation or access to clean water and food, “their physical condition is deteriorating on a daily basis,” wrote IOM in an official statement. Out of the 543,500 who fled violence in Libya, IOM and other Aid workers helped 114,300 people to return to their home countries in the two previous operations. Within the second IOM mission to Misrata on Monday night, the organization transferred to Benghazi 931 evacuees of 21 different nationalities, including 72 Libyans and 650 from Subsaharan countries. IOM has recently received new funding to help with evacuations, but the Organization has now run out of funds and will not be able to carry out operations elsewhere in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Niger. British government's Department for International Development (DFID) have provided IOM with £1.5 million (US$2.4 m) funding that will allow IOM to continue its efforts to rescue the remaining 5,000 migrants still in Misrata. “Although the funding from the British government will help us to charter boats to take migrants from Misrata to Benghazi, we have no funds for the rest of our operations,” says IOM Director of Emergency Operations Mohammed Abdiker. “The lack of funds to evacuate large numbers of migrants is taking its toll on the migrants, whose frustration is now posing security problems for IOM staff,” wrote IOM in a statement. There are still 20,000 Chadians stranded in eastern Libya, 30,000 Chadians in Ghatroun in a desperate state, and thousand asking for help in Tripoli, IOM reported. BM
