Sarah Harrison (Church of Sweden/ACT Alliance) does her research.
Text and photographs: Arne Grieg Riisnæs/NCA/ACT Alliance
For as long as the Gadaffi regime continues to deny the UN and agencies such as the ACT Alliance access to Libya, information about the humanitarian situation inside the country is extremely limited.
Around 3000 people are crossing the heavily-guarded border every day from Libya into Tunisia, and a large proportion of these end up in the Sousha transit camp. This camp is today home to over 15,000 people, mostly migrant workers from Bangladesh, but also from a number of African countries such as Sudan, Somalia and Mali. In this camp the UN, together with a handful of organizations including the ACT Alliance, is currently conducting a detailed assessment by interviewing several hundred refugees.
Assessments ongoing
By asking specific questions such as, ”Did you see any acts of war, and if so, where?”, “Did you see any damaged hospitals?” and “Were you subjected to torture or exposed to other forms of violence?”, the assessors aim to gain as much information as possible as to the humanitarian situation inside Libya – in order best to be prepared for the day that the international community is granted access to Libya.
The responses collected have so far been disturbing. These migrant workers have for a long time occupied the lowest social position in Libya. Now, since the eruption of violence, their status has been further weakened, and many have been subjected to unprovoked violence, robbery, abuse, racism and torture.
”I fled to escape war. On the road to Tunisia I was stopped many times by the government army. A group of them robbed me, taking my mobile phone, my watch, almost all of my clothes, and 500 dollars that I had saved. I tried to stop them, but they put a gun to my head, laughed and spat at me, and said they would kill me,” says Mujamee Bidadanivavil (28) from Bangladesh. He worked for two and a half years for a Pakistani entrepreneur in the Libyan capital Tripoli before deciding three weeks ago to flee from the violence in Libya.
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Mujamee Bidadanivavil (28) from Bangladesh.
“In Libya, nobody ever liked ‘Banglamen’ like me. But since the violence started, they hate me,” says Bidadanivavi.
Valuable image
“By gathering information about where there has been fighting and where the control posts are located, as well as whether or not schools, hospitals and shops have been closed, we are able to construct a very valuable image of the humanitarian situation, and assess to what degree the western areas of Libya are currently able to function as a state,” says Sarah Harrisson, psychosocial expert for the Church of Sweden/ACT Alliance.
”Whatever happens, we don’t want to return to Libya. I saw four people killed on the street, right before my very eyes. I saw random passers-by beaten,” says Cabdi Siciid Bashaad (30) from Somalia. He arrived in the Sousha camp with his wife Cawil (22) and children Azaan (1.5 years) and Cabdiyahmaan (5 months) ten days ago.
”We can’t stay here, but we can’t go back to Somalia either, because there is war there as well,” says Cabdi. He looks down. “All I know is that we won’t return to Libya – nobody likes ’blacks’ like us there. Even the few shops that are open deny us the right to buy food.”
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The Sousha camp.
Queues at the border
Reports claim that the number of people waiting to cross the border from Libya into Tunisia is growing. How many are waiting, and what the conditions are like for those who wait, is key information that the ongoing assessment is seeking to ascertain.
The ACT Alliance team has applied for permission to cross into Libya to continue its assessment mission in cooperation with the UN. In the meantime, there is little evidence to suggest that the Gadaffi regime will change its position and submit to international humanitarian law.
In Tunisia/Libya - contact:
- Arne Grieg Riisnæs, NCA/ACT Alliance communicator in the field, tel. +47 932 50 257 / + 882-1651-075612 (sattellite telephone), local number: + 216 9522 2568