Saturday, March 5, 2011

Continued repatriation of immigrants who fled Libya

.- An international effort to shelter and repatriate tens of thousands of workers who had migrated to and had to flee violence, advanced Friday when traumatized refugees were able to finally rest in a camp with toilets and showers, before being transferred to their countries of origin on ships or planes full.

The camp, near the border with Libya, can accommodate 20 000 people, and white tents, where blankets and cots, filled quickly on Friday. More help came, even from the United States and Europe, and dozens of flights have taken off from an airport in the area over the past two days to bring the refugees to their countries.

But still prevailing chaos and uncertainty. The rate of discharges can not be matched to that of the thousands of people who came to Tunis, and daily there are crowd scenes struggle to address bus to go to the airport. On Friday there was a marked decrease in the number of people who crossed the border into Tunisia, which fueled speculation that forces loyal to Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi were scaring people seeking to flee the country.

Many who arrived from Libya said security forces were stripped of their cash and their mobile phones at checkpoints located on the way to the border. However, the director of Red Crescent in the south of Tunisia, Monji Slim, said they considered that reducing traffic at the border was due particularly to Friday is the Muslim day to rest and few were of Libyan border officials service.

Over 200 thousand people fled to neighboring countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Niger since 15 February, when the insurgency began against Gaddafi's government, officials from the United Nations. Of these, more than 100 000 have been admitted to Tunisia in recent days. After their grueling journey through Libya, the first stop for these workers fleeing violence is a temporary camp covered with garbage just outside the border crossing at Ras Adjir.

From there, they have to go to a camp where tents, located about seven kilometers (four miles) away, and then board buses to the airport of Djerba, located two hours away. For many, this trip means days filled with anxiety. Among the groups most affected are the workers originally from Bangladesh, who, unlike their colleagues in Egypt, Vietnam and China, whose governments were quick to repatriate them, complained about the slowness of the authorities of his country to help.

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