Anti-migrant 'No to Settlement' campaign roils Libya; UNHCR office stormed, Sudanese journalists threatened
A surge of anti-migrant and anti-refugee sentiment is sweeping Libya, driven by a 'No to Settlement' (la lil-tawtin) campaign fueled by false rumors that UNHCR is distributing 'resettlement cards' to irregular migrants. Protesters in Tripoli stormed the UNHCR office in Janzour before security forces intervened, and the UN mission (UNSMIL) blamed disinformation and hate speech for inflaming tensions, denying any program to settle migrants in Libya. The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate reported that eight Sudanese journalists were threatened, harassed and denied basic services within a single week, with 17 of 39 it contacted living in areas classified as dangerous. Politically, the Presidential Council head, the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Justice and Construction Party, and western coastal municipalities all rejected any 'settlement' of migrants, while UN envoy Hanna Tetteh discussed the political roadmap with foreign ambassadors and Tunisia's foreign minister. A severe heatwave prompted electricity-rationing appeals.
Why it matters
Libya is the main transit hub for migrants seeking Europe, and EU border-externalization policies have left hundreds of thousands stranded there with little legal protection. Rising xenophobic mobilization—amplified by political actors across Libya's fractured factions—risks mass abuses against Sub-Saharan Africans and Sudanese fleeing their own war, and could become a tool in domestic power struggles ahead of any UN-brokered political settlement.
🔎 Ground signal
The 'No to Settlement' campaign is the dominant local preoccupation, with political parties competing to channel popular anger and using it to attack Dbeibah's government for failing on migration; the framing that UNHCR is secretly resettling migrants is spreading despite UN denials, a sign disinformation is outpacing official messaging.