RWANDA
A Helping Hand
Rwanda agreed on Tuesday to take in hundreds of African refugees and asylum-seekers held in detention centers in Libya, a move that has been hailed as an example of African governments taking initiative to solve the continent’s problems.
The agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, comes after repeated allegations that migrants were living in dire conditions in the Libyan detention centers, Al Jazeera reported.
Rwanda will receive the first group of 500 people predominantly from the Horn of Africa in the coming weeks, but is prepared to host as many as 30,000 Africans currently in Libya.
Since the ouster of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has become a major transit route for African refugees trying to reach Europe by boat.
Officials from the African Union hailed the deal and hope other African countries will offer similar assistance – though none has come forward so far.
“It is a historical moment because Africans are extending their hands to other Africans,” said Amira Elfadil, the African Union’s social affairs commissioner.
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