Tuesday 1 March 2011

'Refugee crisis' on Libyan border

The predicament on Libya's border with Tunisia has reached crisis stage, as tens of thousands of foreigners flee unrest in the nation, the UN says.

Aid employees seem unable to cope with all the influx, say correspondents. Some 140,000 have gone to Tunisia and Egypt.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has advised Western journalists he is loved by his men and women and denied protests in Tripoli.

His interview came amid studies that he is trying to regain manage of rebel locations in western Libya.

Col Gaddafi is facing a massive challenge to his 41-year rule, with protesters in manage of towns in the east.

Witnesses stated pro-Gaddafi forces attempted to retake the western cities of Zawiya, Misrata and Nalut on Monday but have been repulsed by rebels helped by defecting army units.

The rebels stated they'd killed 8 pro-Gaddafi militia, but there have been no opposition fatalities. There has been no term from your federal government on casualties.

There are fears in Zawiya that the metropolis may be attacked from your air, but the rebels remained defiant.

"We're not
right here for energy, authority or income," they stated in a message aimed at Col Gaddafi.

"We are right here for that lead to of freedom and also the value we're willing to pay is with our own blood... It really is victory or demise."

In other developments:

* The Red Cross is requesting use of western Libya, amid unconfirmed studies of attacks on medical doctors and summary killings of patients
* Austria freezes property from the Libyan leadership really worth one.2bn euros ($1.65bn; £1.02bn) as Germany freezes the financial institution account of 1 of Col Gaddafi's sons
* Libyan air power planes reportedly attacked ammunition depots in the eastern towns of Ajdabiya and Rajma
* About 400 protesters gathered in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura on Monday - Gaddafi supporters attempted to disperse them by firing in the air
* Studies say there have been extended queues in Tripoli financial institutions as men and women attempted to collect the 500 dinars (£250; $410) promised from the federal government in an attempt to quell the unrest

'Forgotten'

A spokeswoman for that UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming, stated 70,000-75,000 men and women have fled to Tunisia considering that violence started in Libya on twenty February. A comparable range have gone to Egypt, exactly where most have been able to proceed their journeys onward.

"Our employees to the Libya-Tunisia border have advised us this morning that the predicament there exists reaching crisis stage," she stated, quoted by AFP news company.

About 2,000 men and women are crossing into Tunisia every single hour but when in Tunisia many of them have nowhere to go. Yet another twenty,000 are stated to become backed up to the Libyan aspect.

Most are Egyptian, but you'll find also significant numbers of Chinese and Bangladeshis.

The Egyptians are angry, complaining that they've been forgotten by their federal government, says the BBC's Jim Muir to the border.

Temperatures plummeted overnight and our correspondent noticed the physique of a young Egyptian gentleman who had apparently died of chilly.