×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

People flee Libya into Algeria as insecurity spreads

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 4 March 2011 12:39 GMT

* Aid groups focus on new exit routes to Algeria, Chad * Numbers crossing borders into Tunisia, Egypt drop sharply

GENEVA, March 4 (Reuters) - Foreigners in Libya have begun fleeing into Algeria as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi guarded exit routes to Tunisia and Egypt, international aid groups said on Friday. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is seeing fewer people arriving in Tunisia and Egypt, the likely result of a heavier military presence near those border crossings.

"The border on the Libyan side is now manned by heavily armed pro-government forces," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said, estimating fewer than 2,000 people made it into Tunisia on Thursday, compared to 10,000 to 15,000 a day earlier this week.

"We are very concerned that the security situation in Libya may be preventing people from crossing the border," she said.

Rebels spearheading a two-week-old revolt have pushed their front line towards the west of the country, and pro-Gaddafi forces have set up check points and roadblocks that have made it hard to deliver medicine and other aid. [ID:nLDE72200E]

The International Organisation for Migration, which has estimated there are 1.5 million foreigners in Libya, said a few hundred Vietnamese migrants have crossed from Libya into Algeria, and that others may soon be using other exit routes.

"We are trying to figure out if anyone has managed to get across into Chad," IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya told a news briefing in Geneva. "Geographically, this (movement of people) is much further spread (than previously thought)."

In addition to Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Sudan, Libya shares borders with Niger and Sudan. The United Nations said in a report this week that up to 100,000 people may try to cross from Libya into Niger in the coming months. [ID:nLDE7212B1]

Sub-Saharan Africans living and working in Libya have been especially desperate to leave because they are being mistaken for mercenaries for Gaddafi and attacked by rebels.

One group of West Africans paid a human smuggler to take them to Egypt in a sealed and refrigerated truck, the IOM said, stressing there were also large numbers of Bangladeshis, Indians and Sudanese nationals trying to leave the country.

The United Nations will launch an emergency appeal on Monday to help people affected by the violence. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which had two of its ambulances shot at in Libya on Thursday, has already requested 6 million Swiss francs (${esc.dollar}6.5 million) to provide medical and other assistance. (Reporting by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->