TUNISIA: African migrant workers fleeing Libya face bleak future

Record ID: 591111

  • Title: TUNISIA: African migrant workers fleeing Libya face bleak future
  • Date: 11th March 2011
  • Summary: RAS JDIR, TUNISIA (MARCH 10, 2011) (REUTERS) DISPLACED PEOPLE IN RAS JDIR CAMP QUEUES OF DISPLACED PEOPLE AFRICAN EVACUEES SOMALI MIGRANT WORKER, ABDI AFRICANS WALKING IN THE CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOMALI NATIONAL ABDI, SAYING: ''There is too much war in Somalia, twenty years. So we couldn't go back that's the problem in Somalia, that's the problem in Somalia.''
  • Embargoed: 26th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia, Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4CJA6HFWH2T6PW820O51DUVJ9
  • Story Text: African migrant workers stranded on the Tunisia-Libya border say they want to seek asylum or immigrate to the West rather than go back to their home countries empty-handed after losing all their savings and belongings in the rush to escape the violence in Libya.
    Many Africans stranded on the Libya-Tunisia border say they would rather risk immigrating illegally to the West than return home penniless, Reuters learned on Thursday (March 10).
    Emanuel and Paul Josef Ike are originally from Biafra state in Nigeria but they have no intention of going back there after they lost all their savings and belongings in the rush to flee the fighting in Libya where they had been working for years.
    Abdi, a Somali, says if he goes back to war-stricken Somalia his life maybe at risk.
    ''There is too much war in Somalia, twenty years. So we couldn't go back that's the problem in Somalia, that's the problem in Somalia,'' said Abdi, who worked for a security company in Libya.
    The story is similar for many of the thousands of African nationals who have fled from Libya into Tunisia. They have been living in tents and waiting in queues for food and water for many days now. But the thought of going home doesn't appeal to them.
    ''I know I may have to go back to Guinea, it depends on those who kept me here. I don't know, but in any case I need to move on," said Guinea Bissau national, Seconha.
    ''I prefer France, also the south, if it is not possible in France, then Canada,'' said Somali national, Mouhyadin Mohamed Djama.
    And some say they are willing to go to the extreme to achieve a life outside their home countries.
    ''We don't have any hope. You know that our country Nigeria is corrupt. Sorry to say it, they are corrupt, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer,'' said Emanual Ndukwe, a Nigerian, whose mother and father died in ethnic fighting in Nigeria's restive Biafra state in 2006. He doesn't have anybody to go back to, he said. His dream is to be able to join his brother Clifford who has immigrated to the United States.
    The African evacuees from Libya say they hope the UN agency for refugees UNHCR maybe able to help them seek asylum.
    ''I cannot go back to Nigeria after spending years, without nothing. And I really need to seek asylum, if there is any help the UN will give to us as we have been hearing over the media, let them render the help to us. I am a technician, so I don't have anything with me. If I go to Europe and engage myself with any kind of job, I would be happy,'' said Paul-Josef Ike, also a Nigerian.
    He explained that going back with nothing to their countries empty-handed is not only humiliating but also leaves them with few chances for a decent living. Emanuel, his brother, agrees. He said that if he could afford the money to cross into Europe illegally he would do it without any hesitation.
    ''If I had the money I would have paid for the illegal way to go. Tunisians have given us the information that there is a way of crossing from Tunisia just like they do in Zawara village in Libya before but the problem is that I don't have the money. But the money that they mention is one thousand two hundred dollars and that is why I am staying here. If I have the money, I could have taken the risk,'' he said.
    And if he dies trying? ''Even if it takes my life, no problem, at least I would survive for once,'' he said.
    Africans were for years a vital part of Libya's workforce. They did mainly manual labour, or worked in the service industry. But fear of African mercenaries hired by Libya's ruler Muammar Gaddafi has led to attacks on innocent Africans by a population that is armed and scared.
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