The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urged on Sunday to protect refugees after the discovery of 11 bodies of Sudanese in the Kufra desert, in southeastern Libya, while trying to flee the war in Sudan.

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UNHCR expressed in a statement its “sadness” for those who “seek safety and find death”, and called on the international community “to protect those forced to flee and help end the conflict.”

The Director of the Emergency and Ambulance Service in Kufra city, southeast Libya, Ibrahim Balhassan, announced on Friday the death of 11 Sudanese refugees stranded in the desert, while local citizens found 15 others alive.

Balhassan said that the refugees, including children and women, died of thirst, as he thanked the citizens who contributed to rescuing the others and informing the authorities of their location so they could provide assistance.

On May 13, the Martyr Attiya Al-Kassah Hospital in Kufra received 36 Sudanese refugees including children and women who were lost in the deep desert south of the city for five days without water or food.

Since the armed conflict between the Sudanese Army and the armed group Rapid Support Forces (FAR) broke out in April 2023, Sudan is sinking into what the UN describes as “the worst humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world”.

In addition, the organization has recorded serious human rights violations, including sexual assaults, war crimes and famine.

Because of this armed conflict, around one million Sudanese have been forced to leave their homes and take refuge in neighbouring countries such as Libya, according to UNHCR.

Libya, the main starting point of the migration route to Italy, hosts more than 824,000 migrants from 47 countries, according to the latest report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) published in May.

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