As many as 320,000 people have so far fled from Libya, and many of them end up in the Sousha transit camp in Tunisia.
By Arne Grieg Riisnæs/ACT Alliance (Text and photo)
During a series of meetings with the UN-OCHA and UNHCR Sunday, ACT Alliance was given insight into a number of different scenarios that map out future events in Libya. Taking the UN Security Council Resolution and the latest days’ developments into consideration, the UN estimates that around 600,000 people will require humanitarian assistance. All of the organisations on the ground in the border areas are naturally deeply concerned by the ongoing conflict, in particular because it is taking place in heavily populated areas.
Around 320,000 people have so far fled from Libya, and it is currently estimated that a further 80,000 will attempt to cross the borders to Tunisia and Egypt. Together with the UN and a large number of humanitarian organisations, ACT has been waiting since the uprising began at the end of February to be granted permission to enter the war-torn country.
Hope growing
Hope has grown over the last few days that a relief operation may be able to begin soon, but a strong and repeated request to access the country, issued Saturday, has so far fallen on deaf ears. There is still no evidence to suggest that Libyan authorities will change their stance, claiming that “the civilian population in Libya does not need humanitarian assistance”.
While at work in the Tunisian-Libyan border area, ACT has however received first-hand information that such a need does indeed exist in Libya, due in part to the fact that a large number of hospitals have been closed and that medicines and medical equipment are in short supply. During conversations with many of those who have fled the conflict by crossing the border into Tunisia, the need for protection has also become apparent - in particular for the large number of immigrants who have been resident in the country.
Discrimination
Many claim to have had all their money and valuables stolen at checkpoints, and migrant workers claim to have been denied permission to purchase food in the few shops that remain open, because they have “the wrong skin colour”. For this group, for whom conditions were poor in peacetime, things seem only to have got worse since the uprising began a month ago. In the Sousha transit camp on the Tunisian side of the Libyan border, and where ACT is at work, women claim to have been raped as they fled the country. ACT has also heard accounts of torture.
”We face an extremely uncertain situation, and we must prepare for the worst. Large-scale and long-term humanitarian assistance may be required, both in Libya and in the border areas where we now are at work, says Hermine Nicolaisen, team leader for ACT in Tunisia/Libya.
Picture clearer
A UN appeal for a total of USD 160 million in response to the crisis in Libya has so far generated USD 99 million. Given the scale of the UN’s current needs estimates, ACT is considering establishing an office on the Tunisian side of the border.
“But like every other organisation on the ground, we need to consider the situation from day to day. We hope to gain a clearer picture of the situation in the days to come,” says Hermine Nicolaisen, team leader for the ACT Alliance.