DUBAI: The UAE sent aid planes to Sierra Leone, Niger and Mali on Sunday to help countries fight the coronavirus outbreak in the region.
The aid included seven tons of medical supplies for about 7,000 medical professionals working in Sierra Leone,, state news agency WAM reported.
"The UAE is committed to assisting its partners throughout Africa in their relentless fight against COVID-19. Today’s provision of aid will boost medical professionals’ ability to combat this virus with the necessary protection and equipment to ensure their safety," Charge d'Affaires of the UAE Embassy in Senegal Omar Al-Meheiri said.
The UAE also sent aid to Niger and Mali that c including six metric tons of medical supplies to help 6,000 professionals in each country.
"Aid to Niger comes as part of the UAE’s efforts to ensure that medical professionals throughout Africa, especially those in the Sahel region, have access to the necessary personal protective equipment to enable their critical work on the frontlines of fighting COVID-19," Charge d'Affaires of the UAE Embassy in Chad Amer Al-Menhali said.
"Mali is an important partner to the UAE in efforts to strengthen the fight against COVID-19 throughout Africa. Today’s delivery of medical aid to Mali will help protect medical workers who are leading the campaign against the virus’ spread," UAE Ambassador to Algeria and Non-Resident Ambassador to Mali Yousef Saif Al-Ali said.
So far the UAE has sent more than 479 tons of aid to more than 44 countries, benefitting nearly 479,000 medical professionals.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti military aircraft flew medical supplies from China to support the country’s fight against the pandemic, state news agency KUNA reported.
Kuwait’s Ambassador to China Sameeh Hayat said today’s aid plane was the 10th and that each shipment carries about 50 to 55 tons of medical supplies. He added that this trip came as part of a series of efforts done by the Ministry of Defense in coordination with the health ministry.
![]()
UAE flies medical aid to African countries in fight against coronavirus spread
Short Url
https://arab.news/rg68g
UAE flies medical aid to African countries in fight against coronavirus spread
- The UAE sent a medical aid plane to Niger and another to Mali that contain six metric tons of medical supplies
- A Kuwaiti military aircraft shipped out medical supplies from China
Libya’s security authorities free more than 200 migrants from ‘secret prison’, two security sources say
BENGHAZI: Libya’s security authorities have freed more than 200 migrants from what they described as a secret prison in the town of Kufra in the southeast of the country after they were held captive in inhuman conditions, two security sources from the city told Reuters on Sunday.
The security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the security authorities had found an underground prison, nearly three meters deep, which the sources said was run by a Libyan human trafficker.
One of the sources said this person had not yet been detained.
“Some of the freed migrants were held captive up to two years in the underground cells,” this source said.
The other source said what the operation had found was “one of the most serious crimes against humanity that has been uncovered in the region.”
“The operation resulted in a raid on a secret prison within the city, where several inhumane underground detention cells were uncovered,” one of the sources added.
The freed migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea, including women and children, the sources said. Kufra lies in eastern Libya, about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the capital Tripoli.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe via dangerous routes across the desert and over the Mediterranean since the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
The oil-based Libyan economy is also a draw for impoverished migrants seeking work, but security throughout the sprawling country is poor, leaving migrants vulnerable to abuses.
At least 21 bodies of migrants were found in a mass grave in eastern Libya last week, with up to 10 survivors in the group bearing signs of having been tortured before they were freed from captivity, two security sources told Reuters.
Libya’s attorney general said in a statement on Friday the authorities in the east of the country had referred a defendant to the court for trial in connection with the mass grave on charges of “committing serious violations against migrants.”
In February last year, 39 bodies of migrants were recovered from about 55 mass graves in Kufra. The town houses tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled the conflict that erupted in Sudan in 2023.
The security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the security authorities had found an underground prison, nearly three meters deep, which the sources said was run by a Libyan human trafficker.
One of the sources said this person had not yet been detained.
“Some of the freed migrants were held captive up to two years in the underground cells,” this source said.
The other source said what the operation had found was “one of the most serious crimes against humanity that has been uncovered in the region.”
“The operation resulted in a raid on a secret prison within the city, where several inhumane underground detention cells were uncovered,” one of the sources added.
The freed migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea, including women and children, the sources said. Kufra lies in eastern Libya, about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the capital Tripoli.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe via dangerous routes across the desert and over the Mediterranean since the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
The oil-based Libyan economy is also a draw for impoverished migrants seeking work, but security throughout the sprawling country is poor, leaving migrants vulnerable to abuses.
At least 21 bodies of migrants were found in a mass grave in eastern Libya last week, with up to 10 survivors in the group bearing signs of having been tortured before they were freed from captivity, two security sources told Reuters.
Libya’s attorney general said in a statement on Friday the authorities in the east of the country had referred a defendant to the court for trial in connection with the mass grave on charges of “committing serious violations against migrants.”
In February last year, 39 bodies of migrants were recovered from about 55 mass graves in Kufra. The town houses tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled the conflict that erupted in Sudan in 2023.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.