The Jesuit Refugee Service has appealed to the Maltese government to take urgent measures, as an extraordinary humanitarian gesture, to offer safe transit to asylum seekers who needed to leave Libya and reach a place of refuge.

In a statement, it said that some 2,000 Eritrean asylum seekers stranded in Libya have made a desperate appeal for help to the Catholic Church in Tripoli, the Jesuit Refugee Service said.

It said that the Apostolic vicar of Tripoli, bishop Giovanni Martinelli, urged the international community to rescue the Eritreans by providing a way out of Libya to safety.

JRS Malta said it joined its voice to that of the Church in Libya and urged the international community not to forget these asylum seekers who did not have anyone to protect them, least of all their country of origin, which they fled in fear of their life.

“Unable to obtain the protection of their government, asylum seekers are stuck in Libya, where they are extremely vulnerable to attacks,” said Jesuit Fr Joseph Cassar, JRS Malta director.

“In the past days we have heard reports of innocent sub-Saharan Africans being beaten, stabbed and even killed, as they are wrongly suspected of being mercenaries hired by Gaddafi to kill the Libyan people.”

JRS Malta appealed to EU states, including Malta, and the rest of the international community to take immediate and concrete action to provide protection to this very vulnerable population by providing resettlement opportunities for them.

"While commending Malta’s immediate and effective response to the crisis by facilitating the evacuation of thousands of foreign nationals seeking to leave Libya, we also call upon the government of Malta to undertake urgent measures, as an extraordinary humanitarian gesture, to offer safe transit to asylum seekers who need to leave Libya and reach a place of refuge.

“It is clear that urgent, multi-lateral action is needed, as Malta cannot do this alone,” Fr Cassar added.