Thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya who have been camped out in front of a United Nations centre in Tripoli for three weeks have begun calling for evacuation from the North-African country in the wake of sweeping raids that saw thousands arrested.
The recently launched appeals at the sit-in come even as the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) disclosed that it had suspended work at the centre in the Libyan capital following the renewed crackdown.
‘No medical treatment. No food. No water. The big problem is toilet,’ said one Eritrean man who has spent time at the site and did not want to be named lamented.
‘We hope the UNHCR will take us to a safe country, otherwise whatever we do no one cares about us.’ he added.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that solidarity protests have been held in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Canada over the situation.
‘But no solution comes still for them,’ said an attendee in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, who was evacuated from Libya two years ago. ‘Still now, they did not get medical care and shelter.’
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No fewer than 5,000 people have been rounded up by security forces since October 1 and put into indefinite detention. They included some 540 women, at least 30 of whom were pregnant, according to UN estimates.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that on October 8, no fewer than six people were killed as thousands of detainees left an overcrowded detention centre known as Ghot Shaal, or al-Mabani.
Four days later, the UN said one of the men who was caught during the raids and then got out again – a 25-year-old Sudanese who fled conflict in Darfur – was shot dead by ‘a group of armed masked men’. Witnesses said his attackers were Libyan security forces.
“’We are afraid, we can’t go outside,’ an Eritrean, who has been hiding with his family since the raids began, told reporters in Tripoli. ‘Write about us. When it was war, it was better than now. We are more afraid now. We’re afraid to go to prison. We have children and we know the life in the prison.’ he appealed.
He said smugglers are currently charging $1,500 to $2,000 per person for an attempt to reach Italy or Malta via the Mediterranean Sea.
He said two of his friends managed to escape a neighbourhood raid by the security forces but sustained injuries from whips.
‘Many people, we don’t know where they went, they tried to escape from the police,’ he said. ‘We won’t go outside here because a lot of people have died here but we don’t know what to do. If they go into the street you can be kidnapped and told to pay money.’
Spokesman Tarik Argaz said as many as 3,000 people are now waiting outside the UNHCR’s community day centre, but the agency suspended work there shortly after the raids for “’security’ reasons. Argaz explained that UNHCR staff are still engaging with refugees in other ways, including by distributing some aid.
‘Their situation is precarious and we are extremely concerned about them,’ he said. ‘Many have been affected by the raids, the demolition of their homes and their detention in horrific conditions. Others have joined, hoping to be evacuated. Many are now sleeping out in the cold, in an unsafe environment.’
The refugees and asylum seekers are hoping for evacuation to safe countries in Europe or North America, though the number of spaces offered by states is much lower than the level of need. This year, just 345 people have departed the country through evacuation flights, while in 2020, only 811 left that way.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
