- Title: Severe poverty pushes Egyptian migrants to death in Libya
- Date: 19th July 2017
- Summary: TARF EL KOM, MINYA, EGYPT (JULY 12, 2017) (REUTERS) STREET IN VILLAGE OF TARF EL KOM IN MINYA CHILDREN PLAYING IN STREET CHILDREN WALKING IN STREET FAMILY OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD SEATED CHILD MORE OF MAHMOUD FAMILY FATHER, ABDALLAH MAHMOUD MOTHER OF ABDALLAH MAHMOUD FAMILY SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD, SAYING: "The tea leaves are for EGP 3. I swear it is for EGP3. One sugar kilo is expensive. He used to wake up and have no money for bread. What will he do? Of course he has to migrate. The evil ones pushed him to go to the desert and he was killed. Three were killed and they were covered by one man who wasn't able to carry them. He buried them. They were retrieved by good people." VARIOUS OF FATHER, ABDALLAH MAHMOUD MOTHER OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD/WIFE OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD AND SON OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD EXITING ROOM WIFE OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD TALKING IN ROOM WITH CHILDREN PRESENT WIFE OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD SITTING WITH THREE CHILDREN WIFE OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD STROKING HEAD OF CHILD LYING IN HER LAP VARIOUS OF CHILD SLEEPING WITH FLIES ON HIS FACE WIFE OF YOUSSEF MAHMOUD CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FAMILY MEMBER, SAMIR SAYED MOHAMED, SAYING: "When they found out that they had died, they were supposed to, the government was supposed to help us. They are neither helping us in death or in life. Man, why don't they just open other countries and kick us out and go to hell. We are dead either way. Why are people migrating? It is because of the death that they migrate. VARIOUS OF FAMILY MEMBERS SITING ON BENCH BROTHER OF A DEAD MIGRANT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BROTHER OF ONE OF THE DEAD, KHALED KHALIFA AHMED MOHAMED, SAYING: "A young man like him left his family and threw himself in the fire. For what reason? For what? He cannot sustain himself. If he could provide for himself here he would not have thrown himself in the fire. If he had known he would die he would not have left. There are no work opportunities here anyways. If there were work opportunities here he would get paid and work instead of travelling and throwing himself in the fire. There is no work here." VARIOUS OF FATHER OF ONE OF THE DEAD, KHALIFA AHMED MOHAMED, STANDING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATHER OF ONE OF THE DEAD, KHALIFA AHMED MOHAMED, SAYING: "I only want, and this is basic humanity, that they look for him and see where he is. A man thrown into the desert, no one knows where he is until now." COURTYARD WITH MAN WAITING OUTSIDE HUT VARIOUS OF CORRIDOR WITH CRATES AND BUCKETS VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF A MAN ALLEGEDLY ARRESTED IN LIBYA, NABILA HAFEZ, TALKING AND CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF A MAN ALLEGEDLY ARRESTED IN LIBYA, NABILA HAFEZ, SAYING: "He said he wants to travel one year to get money for his education. I told him stay you do not need an education. He told me I would like an education. I want my son alive or dead. They should look for him at the hospital which is collecting those who are dead. Look for his passport or his identification card. I want to find peace. I am very distressed. 10 months I have been distressed." CHILDREN IN THE STREET VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS IN THE STREET
- Embargoed: 2nd August 2017 18:13
- Keywords: migrants poverty desert death migration hospital Egypt Libya
- Location: TARF EL KOM, MINYA, EGYPT
- City: TARF EL KOM, MINYA, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QDVY9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In a bare room with nothing but a small pillow, a few pots and a sheet to cover the dusty floor, Youssef Abdullah's family living in an impoverished Egyptian village, were told he had died in the Libyan desert.
Abdullah was one of at least 22 Egyptians found dead earlier this month, perishing from heat and starvation after trekking the Libyan desert by foot in search of jobs in the war-torn country, that they could not secure at home.
The Libyan Red Crescent said the bodies were found in the Jaghbub desert, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Tobruk.
Many of them came from villages in Minya, an impoverished province south of Cairo where residents say poverty and unemployment have been driving villagers to put their lives at risk to find work of any kind, even if it meant contending with conditions of war.
Egypt last year began sweeping economic reforms as part of a three-year $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan programme, floating its pound currency and slashing subsidies in a bid to lure back foreign investment that fled after its 2011 political uprising.
But the measures have pushed inflation above 30 percent and slashed purchasing power.
Among the survivors is Said Abdullah, who dug his 17-year-old son a grave by hand in the desert after he died.
To get to Libya Abdullah and others from his neighbourhood paid a broker from a nearby village, who took money in exchange for providing what he said was legal passage. He then passed them on to smugglers who left them in the Libyan desert without water or food.
Egyptian Migration Minister Nabila Makram said the deaths were "tragic, unfortunate and painful and speak to the danger of illegal immigration," in a statement last week. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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