TUNISIA: Bangladeshi workers among the many expatriate workers fleeing violence in Libya attack their government for a lack of assistance

Record ID: 345776

  • Title: TUNISIA: Bangladeshi workers among the many expatriate workers fleeing violence in Libya attack their government for a lack of assistance
  • Date: 4th March 2011
  • Summary: RAS DJIR ON LIBYAN BORDER, TUNISIA (MARCH 3, 2011) (REUTERS) UNHCR CAMP WHITE TENTS WITH UNHCR MARKINGS VARIOUS OF AID WORKERS AND VOLUNTEERS DISTRIBUTING BREAKFAST TO STRANDED WORKERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMED, TUNISIAN VOLUNTEER, SAYING "I'm shocked. We as Tunisians are standing next to all the people here, but I didn't expect this and that their conditions would be as bad." VARIOUS OF WORKERS CARRYING BEDDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASAD, MIGRANT WORKER FROM BANGLADESH, SAYING: "Here, I came here five days ago but it's a problem and Bangladesh government is no action for Bangladesh people. Is very sad. Bangladesh people, government, people not for go, is problem." WORKERS IN CAMP VARIOUS OF STRANDED ASIAN WORKERS INSIDE TENTS EATING TRACKING SHOT OF TENTS
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia, Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA42U20VONO2QU4YW56QYO7K0LE
  • Story Text: In a tented city at Ras Djir on the Tunisian border with Libya, Bangladeshi migrant worker Asad on Thursday (March 3) expressed his anger at his government for sending him no help.
    He said: " I came here five days ago but it's a problem and Bangladesh government is no action for Bangladesh people. Is very sad. Bangladesh people, government, people not for go, is problem."
    His cry has been echoed by others amongst the thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the process of trying to leave Libya via this land border.
    Some have been sleeping for four days in the open on the Libyan side with no food, through hot days and cold nights.
    There are problems on the Tunisian side of the border at Ras Djir too, because thousands of the migrant workers who made it through the crossing are stranded there with no money to pay for their journey home.
    The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR continues to expand a tent city that will shelter up to 20,000 mainly Egyptian refugees whose evacuation from Tunisia is simply taking too long, aid officials say.
    Around the border buildings, under a grove of trees, hundreds of refugees have built a ramshackle camp of their own with shelters made of piled baggage and plastic sheeting. They huddled around camp-fires in the early morning chill.
    One Tunisian volunteer at the camp said he'd been shocked at what he saw.
    Mohammed said: " I didn't expect this and that their conditions would be as bad."
    Tunisian army colonel Mohamed Essoussi and UNHCR team leader Ayman Gharaibeh said more planes and ships were needed to repatriate more than 50,000 who had fled Libya in the past few days but had still not moved on.
    British and France on Wednesday (March 2) announced air and sea assistance to help the stranded workers who have been fleeing the full-scale revolt against the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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