By Associated Press - Thursday, June 20, 2019

CAIRO (AP) - The United Nations refugee agency says it has evacuated 131 African refugees from Libya to its emergency transit center in neighboring Niger.

The UNHCR released a statement Thursday saying the evacuees were from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, and included 65 children. Some of them were held in detention centers for over a year, the statement said.

The UNHCR says it has assisted 1,297 vulnerable refugees out of Libya in 2019, including 711 who were sent to Niger, 295 to Italy and 291 who have been resettled in Europe and Canada.

The agency also warned that more than 3,800 refugees and migrants held in detention centers remain at risk in war-torn Libya.

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