Libyan civil war refugees in 2011 are Libyans forced to leave their homes during the civil war in Libya and seek refuge in neighboring states such as Tunisia , Egypt , Chad , and the European Union. Although most of the refugees are Arabs and Berbers, many other nationalities from sub-equatorial Africa temporarily reside in Libya. [1] Many of them also fled from Libya during the first wave of emigration. The total number of Libyan refugees amounted to one million in 2011. Most of them returned home when the civil war ended. In January 2013, the UN Human Rights Council out of 59,425 refugees registered a total of 5,252 people from Libya. [2]
According to an article in Le Monde of May 13, 2014 [3] , in Tunisia, the number of refugees from Libya ranged between 600,000 and 1,000,000, many of whom were opposition supporters of the Jamahiriya and Muammar Gaddafi parties. These figures are respectively 10% and 15% of the Libyan population before NATO intervention.
According to an article by Barbara Slevin, published in Al Monitor on August 5, 2014 [4] , Tunisian President Moncef Marzuki mentioned two million Libyans, that is, a third of the country's population before NATO intervention, who found temporary refuge in Tunisia.
Background
Start
In the early days of the war, holding their way from Tripoli , 4,000 refugees per day crossed the border of Libya and Tunisia. Among them were both Libyans and other nations - Egyptians, Tunisians and Turks. [5] On March 1, 2011, UN High Commissioners confirmed that there was discrimination against sub-equatorial Africans who are being held in poor conditions on the territory that does not belong to anyone between Tunisia and Libya. [6] On May 10, 2011, The Week issued an article claiming that around 746 000 people have fled from Libya since the start of the war [7]
At Raz Aydir, at a checkpoint between Libya and Tunisia, a refugee camp with a capacity of 10,000 was established. Soon it was crowded, giving shelter from 20,000 to 30,000 people. By March 3, 2011 the situation there was described as a “logistical nightmare”, and the World Health Organization warned of an epidemic risk [7] .
To meet the needs of people staying at Raz Aydir, the World Food Program and Assistance to Muslims in France built a kitchen to prepare breakfasts for families. The International Committee of the Red Cross , which proposed this, transferred the arrangement of another camp - Shusha to the Red Crescent of Tunisia [8] . Since March 24, 2011, WFP has provided more than 42,500 ready-made meals at the Sallum Egyptian border checkpoint. [9]
More than 5,000 Libyan Berbers left their homes in the Nafusa mountains and received asylum in the Dehiba region in southeastern Tunisia between April 5 and 12, 2011. [10]
The Sunday Telegraph reported on September 11 that almost the entire population of Tavarg , a city with 10,000 inhabitants, was forced to leave their homes after the settlement was occupied by soldiers fighting the Gaddafi regime. According to the article, for the most part black Libyans lived in Tavarga, and perhaps this event was part of an “ethnic cleansing” provoked in part by racism, and in part by the fact that the population of Tavarg supported Gaddafi in the battle for Misurata. [eleven]
On October 1, 2011, Red Cross spokesman Abdelhamid Almendi said more than 50,000 Libyans have fled Benghazi since the start of the war in February. [12]
After the 2011 War
In January 2013, the number of internal refugees was 59,425, including 5,252 people from Libya [2] . Despite this, an article in Le Monde dated May 14, 2014 stated that "the numbers vary between 600,000 and one million according to the estimates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tunisia. If you add those who stayed in Egypt, there will be almost two million Libyans outside their homeland. - out of a total of six million [3] .
According to journalist Barbara Slevin and her article in Al Monitor on August 5, 2014, Tunisian President Moncef Marzuki said that two million Libyans, one third of the country's population before the war, fled to Tunisia. [four]
Refugee locations
Benghazi is the region with the largest number of registered refugees. 115,000 people live there, accounting for 27.6% of all Libyan refugees. In second place is Ajdabiya with 31,750 (7.6%) people, Al-Baida - 21,500 (5.2%), Abu Salim - 21,475 (5.1%), Beni Walid - 20,000 (4.8%) ), Ez-Zintan - 19 425 (4.7%), Tobruk - 16 375 (3.9%), El-Adzhaylat - 13 500, Jazur - 10 105 (2.4%), Sabha - 7 215 (1 , 7%). In these ten places 67.9% of internal migrants live. [13]
Immigration to Europe
After the 2011 revolution in Tunisia and the civil war in Libya, the Italian island of Lampedusa became the arrival point for refugees from these countries. [14] In February, Italian Interior Minister Frattini reported that the number of Libyan refugees seeking to reach Italy could reach 200,000 or 300,000 people. [15] 45,000 refugees arrived in Lampedusa in the first five months of 2011. [sixteen]
Notes
- ↑ Squires, Nick . Libya: Italy fears 300,000 refugees , The Daily Telegraph (February 23, 2011).
- ↑ 1 2 2013 UNHCR country operations profile - Libya . UNCHR (2013). Date of treatment November 12, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 Mandraud, Isabelle . Kadhafi est toujours là pour les Libyens de Tunis , Le Monde (13 May 2014).
- ↑ 1 2 Slavin, Barbara . Tunisia's president asks US for help , Al Monitor (August 5, 2014). Archived July 17, 2017.
- ↑ Live Update: Thousands Flee Across Libya – Tunisia Border , The Globe and Mail (February 24, 2011). Date of treatment March 18, 2011.
- ↑ Saunders, Doug . At a Tense Border Crossing, a Systematic Effort To Keep Black Africans Out , The Globe and Mail (March 1, 2011). Date of treatment March 3, 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Libya's 'devastating' refugee crisis: By the numbers , The Week (10 May 2011). Date of treatment March 10, 2012.
- ↑ Libya: More Aid To Reach Misrata and Other Areas , International Committee of the Red Cross . Date of treatment April 18, 2011.
- ↑ OCHA on Libya's Refugees Covering the Period of 10 to 12 April (PDF). ReliefWeb . Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Date of treatment April 18, 2011.
- ↑ Hundreds of Libyan Berbers Flee Western Mountains and Head to Tunisia , UNCHR (April 12, 2011). Date of treatment April 18, 2011.
- ↑ Gilligan, Andrew . Gaddafi's ghost town after the loyalists retreat , The Telegraph (11 September 2011). Date of appeal September 12, 2011.
- ↑ Snipers halt NTC's advance in Sirte; rebels deny capture of Qaddafi's spokesman , Al Arabiya News (October 1, 2011). Archived on May 28, 2017. Date of treatment November 1, 2011.
- ↑ DISPLACEMENT TRACKING MATRIX DTM ROUND 3 MARCH — APRIL 2016
- ↑ Reid, Sue . Gaddafi's Diaspora and the Libyans Overwhelming Lampedusa , Daily Mail (April 4, 2011).
- ↑ Squires, Nick . Libya: Italy Fears 300,000 Refugees , The Daily Telegraph (February 23, 2011). Date of treatment July 7, 2011.
- ↑ Exodus , Newsweek (12 June 2011).
- Refugees of the war in Libya