At least 2,738 migrants have been intercepted and returned to Libya since the beginning of 2024, of which 817 (29.84 percent) in the week from 10 to 16 March, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). All the migrants intercepted last week were brought back ashore in Tripolitania, in particular in Zawiya (393 migrants on 14 March and 120 on 15 March), Tripoli (98 migrants on 17 March, 106 migrants on 15 March, 100 migrants on 16 March).
In another context, Doctors Without Borders, an NGO performing search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean, has accused the Libyan coastguard of hampering an attempt to save more than 170 people making the perilous journey across the sea to Europe. In a statement, the NGO, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said its ship had come to the rescue of two boats in international waters on Saturday: a small fibreglass boat carrying 28 people and a double-deck wooden vessel with 143 people onboard, which appeared to be in distress.
