TRIPOLI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- A total of 52 illegal immigrants have been voluntarily repatriated from Libya to Guinea, official Libyan News Agency reported Wednesday.
The repatriated migrants, including four women and four children, left Mitiga International Airport on Tuesday to Guinea's Conakry International Airport.
As part of a voluntary return program carried out by the International Organization for Migration in cooperation with the Libyan authorities, the repatriation aims to arrange the return of illegal immigrants stranded in Libya to their home countries.
Migrant shelters in Libya are crowded with thousands of migrants who have been rescued at sea or arrested by the Libyan security services.
Following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, insecurity and chaos in Libya has turned it into a departure point for illegal immigrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean toward Europe.
