TUNIS: Libya’s suspension of 10 international humanitarian groups, part of a broader crackdown on African migrants, is aimed at masking domestic failures and securing external concessions, particularly from Europe, analysts have said.

Libya’s Tripoli-based authorities announced on Wednesday a decision to suspend the Norwegian Refugee Council, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Terre des Hommes, CESVI and six other groups, accusing them of a plan to “settle migrants” from other parts of Africa in the country.

War-torn Libya is a key departure point on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, risking dangerous sea voyages in the hope of reaching Europe.

Anas al-Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said “this isn’t about NGOs — it’s about creating enemies to distract from failures”. The UN-recognised government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah is “tapping into conservative anxieties while masking their inability to provide basic services”, he said.

Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that overthrew longtime leader Moamer Qadhafi. It remains split between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

The ultimate goal, according to Gomati, is to “extract concessions from Europe which, fearing potential migration surges, will offer new funding packages and prop up the government in Tripoli”.

On Wednesday, Rome announced the allocation of 20 million euros to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to finance “voluntary repatriations” for 3,300 sub-Saharan migrants who arrived in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

“This isn’t coincidence — its coordination. The Libyan authorities shut down NGOs providing monitoring and protection (for migrants) precisely as Italy announces 20 million euros for ‘voluntary’ returns,” said Gomati.

“Italy gets to claim they’re funding ‘voluntary’ returns while Libya gets to demonstrate ‘sovereignty’, all while vulnerable migrants face extortion in detention before being labelled ‘volunteers’ for deportation.”

‘Demonising migrants’

Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui noted that the Tripoli government is adopting a similar tone to Tunisian President Kais Saied, who in early 2023 denounced what he called “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who threatened to “change the country’s demographic composition”.

Harchaoui, of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said Dbeibah was facing considerable difficulties, particularly in gaining access to public funds, and his once pragmatic relationship with the Haftar family in the east had deteriorated.

The two rivals had previously struck a kind of non-aggression pact in exchange for sharing oil revenues.

“In its bid to assert control and project strength, the Dbeibah government has turned to demonising sub-Saharan migrants and denouncing NGOs,” Harchaoui said.

This aims to “show who’s in charge in Tripoli and create the illusion that he is curbing migration flows”.

Exiled Libyan human rights activist Husam el-Gomati said on X that “this crackdown appears not only to limit the influence of these organisations but also to prevent the documentation of human rights violations and delay any potential punitive measures against militia leaders involved in these abuses”.

Various reports from the United Nations and NGOs such as Amnesty International have denounced the arbitrary detentions of government opponents, journalists and lawyers in recent months, as well as abuses against migrants, including the discovery of mass graves.

Following the NGO ban, aid groups have expressed concern for both their Libyan colleagues and the migrants who have been made more vulnerable in a country that, according to the IOM, is home to more than 700,000 residents from sub-Saharan countries.

The International Commission of Jurists on Friday condemned the “recent collective expulsions, arrests, violent attacks and the surge of hate speech, including that which constitutes incitement to violence, against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya”.

The organisation noted that the Libyan interior ministry has pledged “the deportation of 100,000 migrants every four months”.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2025