TUNISIA/LIBYA: Displaced Libyan families in a UAE Red Crescent refugee camp near Tunisian - Libyan border tell of bombardment by Gaddafi forces

Record ID: 346276

  • Title: TUNISIA/LIBYA: Displaced Libyan families in a UAE Red Crescent refugee camp near Tunisian - Libyan border tell of bombardment by Gaddafi forces
  • Date: 28th April 2011
  • Summary: TWO VEILED WOMEN GIVE 'V' SIGN CLOSE OF AMIRA, AN IDP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMIRA, 20 YEARS OLD LIBYAN INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON, SAYING "We fled because we were scared of Gaddafi's airstrikes. I mean we were horrified of the rockets."
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia, Libya
  • City:
  • Country: Tunisia Libya
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA715B9XY6TQ1Y8V5Y82FTT2DV4
  • Story Text: Displaced Libyan families have told of bombardment by Muammar Gadaffi's forces forcing them to flee the country to a UAE Red Crescent refugee camp, near the Tunsian-Libyan border.
    The U.N. refugee agency estimates around 30,000 Libyans have fled to southern Tunisia since early this month, some being cared for in camps, but most finding hospitality wherever they can in private homes and community halls.
    "We fled because we were scared of Gaddafi's airstrikes. I mean we were horrified of the rockets," said Amira, a 20-year-old Libyan refugee in the camp.
    "We heard airstrikes near us. It is good that we left because he (Gaddafi) started attacking places. Gaddafi says there are no airstrikes, but he is attacking civilians. Who is he targeting in Ras Lanouf? Who is he targeting there? He is attacking civilians. He attacked homes, hospitals, and water tanks," said Amira's mother Mufida, a 40-year-old Libyan refugee.
    With another 1,500 or so arriving every day, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is trying to triple the size of a camp already housing nearly 3,000 people to cope with the steady influx.
    "We started receiving internally displaced people for the last two weeks nearly. The number now is 5212. The ones who are currently here are 1376, and the total number of departures from here is 3836. The situation is great, thank God. Everything is available, food, shelter, and medical supplies," said Khaled al-Hamaadi, a UAE Red Crescent representative at the Deiba camp.
    The capture of the Dehiba-Wazin border crossing by rebels last week has let refugees flee in cars, as well as on foot along rocky paths, swelling the numbers sheltering in southern Tunisia to an estimated 30,000 people.
    At the border post near Dehiba, which Gaddafi's forces lost last week, rebels checked cars as anxious children peered through the glass. At a rickety table decorated with a small pre-Gaddafi flag, a rebel noted down names. One rebel said they were watching for infiltrators.
    "We have heard news from our guys that there are cars heading to attack this gate. But we are here and we will defeat them with God's will," said Adel, a Libyan refugee.
    Gaddafi's government has not acknowledged the capture of the border post, smaller than the Ras Jdir crossing further north.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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