African migrant waiting for small boat to Europe laughs 'United Kingdom, here we come'

African men have their documents checked in Libya (Image: Sky News)

An African migrant has boasted of heading to the UK, as he waits to cross the sea from Libya to Europe. Young men desperate for a better life are queuing up in the port of Tobruk, awaiting a perilous boat ride across the Mediterranean to Europe.

The migrants far outstrip local residents and are living rough on the streets until they get their marching orders from people smugglers. Many are fleeing the civil war in Sudan, where soldiers from the brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been accused of slaughtering tens of thousands of civilians. The RSF militia scored a major military success when it seized territory along Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt in June this year.

Small boats arrivals have increased in 2025 (Image: Getty)

They followed this up with the capture of el-Fasher in late October, meaning they now almost fully control the provinces of Dafur and Kordofan.

Fighters from the paramilitary group rampaged through el-Fasher, carrying out an unprecedented slaughter of civilians trapped in the city.

The Sudanese migrants are desperate to escape the slaughter, seeing no future in their native country.

"United Kingdom, here we come," one African migrant playfully told Sky News reporter Alex Crawford as the broadcaster investigated the dire situation in Libya.

"If we go back to Sudan, perhaps we die," another man said. "We are young. We don’t want to die."

Sudan has been ravaged by a vicious civil war that broke out in April 2023, as a result of a power struggle. This pitted the country's army against a ruthless and powerful paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF is led by General Dagalo and has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia, accused of carrying out a genocide in Dafur between 2003-2005.

The UK is one of the most popular destinations for refugees looking to rebuild their shattered lives, with many arriving illegally on small boats from France.

This year has seen a slight increase in the number of so-called irregular arrivals , due to an increase in small boat crossings.

In the year ending March 2025, there were 44,125 detected irregular arrivals, 14% more than in the previous year, and 86% of these arrived on small boats. Small boats have been the predominant recorded entry method for irregular arrivals since 2020.