An Italian policeman takes pictures of detained migrants recently | Credit | PBS

At least 600 South Sudanese refugees are reportedly being held at the Sudan-Libya border after they tried to go on the “desperate journey”.

Thousands of Africans have died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea as they flee their countries due to conflict, human rights violations, persecution, and poverty.

This was later termed as desperate journey.

According to a human rights activist in the Sudan, the young men entered the neighboring country from Gok Machar in Bahr el Ghazal region.

Achol Malong says they were intercepted by the anti-human trafficking security units along the Sudan-Libya border.

“There are some 600 South Sudanese refugees have been arrested at the Sudan-Libya border as victims of human trafficking business,” Ms. Malong told Eye Radio via phone from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum on Thursday.

This comes after Libyan authorities announced that at least 40 Sudanese people died, after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Libya.

The five-year civil war has displaced 4 million South Sudanese to the neighboring countries, especially the Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, according to the UNHCR.

Some are said to have fled the violence, while others had to leave due to the resultant economic crisis.