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UN Appeals for Protection, Support for African Refugees Fleeing Toward
Mediterranean

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency is appealing for $100 million to
   provide protection and support for thousands of African refugees
   risking their lives trying to reach and cross the Mediterranean Sea.

   Escalating conflicts and violence in Africa's Sahel region and new
   displacement in the east and Horn of Africa are causing increasing
   numbers of people to flee across the Sahara Desert. Many subsequently
   embark on dangerous sea journeys across the Mediterranean to Italy in
   search of asylum.

   The U.N. refugee agency reports at least 1,064 people died or
   disappeared in the central and western Mediterranean Sea in 2020. The
   agency has verified the deaths of about 1,800 people on the land
   journey across the Sahara, but says that's just the tip of the iceberg,
   as it is not possible to collect data on the missing.

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