The sixth group of 133 refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya have safely arrived in Rwanda, the Ministry of Emergency Management confirmed Friday.
All the migrants were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival at the airport pending for test results before they will be transferred to Gashora transit Center (East) where they will join other refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya.
Gashora settlement has a capacity to host 500 refugees and asylum seekers. Rwanda offered to take up to 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers.
The centre was established under the emergency transit mechanism (ETM) set up by the Government of Rwanda, the UN Refugee Agency and the African Union (AU).
This batch follows the fifth batch that contained 130 people that arrived in Rwanda in December last year
Out of the refugees, 131 were relocated in Sweden, 23 to Canada, 46 in Norway, while 5 others were received by France.
Rwanda currently hosts more than 130,000 refugees, mostly Congolese and Burundians, who in recent months are facing challenges after the UNHCR and World Food Programme (WFP) announced that they were cutting food rations since March last yeay, due to shortages in supply and funding.
CU/abj/APA