TUNISIA: Volunteers from different parts of the world help to prepare food for thousands of people who have fled the violence in Libya

Record ID: 346212

  • Title: TUNISIA: Volunteers from different parts of the world help to prepare food for thousands of people who have fled the violence in Libya
  • Date: 3rd March 2011
  • Summary: RAS JDIR, TUNISIA (MARCH 2, 2011) (REUTERS) TENT CAMP ON THE TUNISIAN SIDE OF THE LIBYA-TUNISIA BORDER VARIOUS OF FOOD AND WATER PILED UP IN THE OPEN, BOTTLED WATER, LOAVES OF BREAD VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS COOKING INSIDE TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN VOLUNTEER SAMIRA, SAYING: "I am a volunteer from the Cooperation Association of Tunisia, we are preparing food for ten thousand people. We need more volunteers to join." TWO VOLUNTEERS CARRYING BIG POT BETWEEN THEM VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS GIVING TEA TO STRANDED PEOPLE, MEMBERS OF TUNISIAN ARMY HANDING OUT FOOD AND WATER IN THE BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH VOLUNTEER STEPHEN GREEN, SAYING: "I think this is a situation where you don't know how it's going to change from one day to the next. When we came, we thought we would be feeding two thousand people and now we've been asked to feed ten thousand people. And we don't know how things will change. We hope that people will not have to stay here too long before they're moved on - and so that we can help them. We don't know how the situation will turn out." VARIOUS MORE OF CAMP, STRANDED PEOPLE RECEIVING BOTTLED WATER VOLUNTEER CLEANING CAMP, PICKING UP RUBBISH VARIOUS OF STRANDED PEOPLE WALKING WITH SUPPLIES VARIOUS OF LARGE GROUP OF ASIAN WORKERS GATHERED FOR MEETING TUNISIAN FLAG FLYING IN CAMP
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia, Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAKRCCCJRKLEH1VMCY6FG025PF
  • Story Text: Dozens of volunteers from Tunisia and abroad work in a make-shift camp near the Tunisian border town of Ras Jdir to help the thousands of migrant workers stranded there after fleeing the unrest in Libya.
    Samira is a volunteer from Tunisia who helps to prepare food for the camp.
    "I am a volunteer from the Cooperation Association of Tunisia, we are preparing food for ten thousand people. We need more volunteers to join."
    Tens of thousands of migrant workers have crossed the border into Tunisia to escape the unrest in Libya The Tunisian army and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR have set up a camp at the border town of Ras Jdir. But the refugee emergency created by the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and the ensuing violence is straining Tunisia's aid capacity to the limit.
    "I think this is a situation where you don't know how it's going to change from one day to the next. When we came, we thought we would be feeding two thousand people and now we've been asked to feed ten thousand people. And we don't know how things will change. We hope that people will not have to stay here too long before they're moved on - and so that we can help them. We don't know how the situation will turn out," said Stephen Green, a volunteer from Britain.
    The 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.
    Tunisian army colonel Mohamed Essoussi and UNHCR team leader Ayman Gharaibeh said more planes and ships were needed to repatriate over 50,000 people who had fled Libya in the past few days.
    Only an estimated 20,000 people have been repatriated, and with untold numbers still expected, the build-up of those waiting in transit could become overwhelming.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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