New York, Mar 8 2011 12:10PM
The United Nations refugee agency today voiced alarm at increasing
accounts of violence and discrimination in Libya against sub-Saharan
Africans in both the rebel-held east and the Government-controlled
west, including the reported rape of a 12-year-old girl.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) "reiterates its call on
all parties to recognize the vulnerability of both refugees and
migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and to take measures to ensure their
protection," spokesman Adrian Edwards told a
<"http://www.unhcr.org/4d7619e09.html">news briefing in Geneva.
Yesterday Sudanese refugees arriving from eastern Libya at the
Egyptian border told UNHCR that armed Libyans were going door to door,
forcing sub-Saharan Africans to leave. "In one instance a 12-year-old
Sudanese girl was said to have been raped," Mr. Edwards said.
"They reported that many people had their documents confiscated or
destroyed. We heard similar accounts from a group of Chadians who fled
Benghazi, Al Bayda and Brega in the past few days."
The number of people who have fled the violence since the start of
mass protests against Muammar Al-Qadhafi three weeks ago has passed
212,000, including 112,000 in Tunisia, more than half of them Tunisian
and Egyptians migrants; 98,000 in Egypt, over two thirds of them
Egyptian; and 2,000 in Niger, mainly Niger nationals.
UNHCR has also heard from the Algerian Government that more than 4,000
people have arrived in Algeria by air, land and sea, including
evacuations from Tunisia and Egypt.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres is in Tunisia today
to meet with officials and visit the border area, where he will meet
with local community members who have offered aid, shelter and
solidarity to the tens of thousands of migrants and refugees.
Another group that has been facing particular hardship are Bangladeshi
migrants, with some 3,500 stranded at the Egyptian border, many of
whom have been waiting for up to 10 days for onward transport. They
are becoming "increasingly agitated," Mr. Edwards said, and one
Bangladeshi man died over the weekend after a fight over food
distribution.
Many are sleeping outside in the bitter cold as available shelter is
filled to capacity. Over 14,000 meals were distributed to people
stranded at the border yesterday, where overall some 5,000 people are
awaiting onwards transport.
At both the Egyptian and Tunisian borders, most of those awaiting
evacuation are Bangladeshi single men. There is a critical shortage at
present of long-haul flights to Bangladesh, other Asian countries and
sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Edwards said, noting that UNHCR and the
inter-governmental International Organization for Migration (IOM) are
using cash contributions to charter planes and several donor countries
have offered long-haul flights.
"Nevertheless, with an estimated 40 to 50 flights needed to repatriate
all the migrants, further support will be needed to ensure that
everyone is transported home," he added.
At the Tunisian border with Libya, the number of arrivals has dropped
considerably, compared to a week ago, with 2,485 people arriving
yesterday, coinciding with intensified fighting in western Libya that
has reduced mobility. Recent arrivals describe numerous military road
blocks along the route, with the majority reporting that they are
searched for mobile phones, memory cards and simcards," Mr. Edwards
said.
UNHCR's tented transit camp in Choucha, close to the border, currently
holds 15,000 people, 311 of them with protection concerns, including
Somalis and Eritreans.
Meanwhile, a convoy of trucks from the UN World Food Programme (WFP)
entered Libya last night and is due to arrive in the eastern city of
Benghazi today with 70 metric tons of high-energy, fortified date
bars, the first delivery of UN food aid to enter the country.
WFP is mobilizing food for the hungry as part of a $39.2 million
<"http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/wfp-trucks-food-eastern-libya">emergency
operation to feed more than 1 million people in Libya, Egypt and
Tunisia over a three-month period. Preparations are under way for
delivery of another 70 metric tons of the locally-produced date bars,
and 150 metric tons of wheat flour, taken from the stocks of WFP
operations in Egypt.
A shipment of 1,182 metric tons of wheat flour which turned back from
Benghazi on Thursday amid security concerns, set sail for Libya again
today.
Some 80 metric tons of WFP high energy biscuits, airlifted to the
Tunisian border last week, are now being distributed as part of the
food rations for new arrivals there.
No comments:
Post a Comment