Voices from the border

I just got off Skype with my friend Ismail, who is in the Egyptian Mediterranean town of El Salloum, at the border of Libya and Egypt. A few days ago, Ismail, who is from the oasis town of Siwa (approximately 2 hours from Libya, though 5 hours from El Salloum) got a call from a friend, saying that the International Organization for Migration was in urgent need of volunteers who could speak English. IOM, who helps migrants fleeing violence, is set up at various Libyan borders, assisting people (mostly foreigners) who are trying to leave.

The first thing Ismail said to me was, "I don't know how much we're doing, but IOM is doing an amazing job. But really, if you saw all of this, you would cry." Today alone, they saw 1200 Sudanese, including children, arrive at the border. Yesterday, 3000 people from Bangladesh were there. This, in addition to at least a thousand others from countries ranging from Mali to Cote d'Ivoire. The Egyptian government will not allow any of these people in until they have a flight booked out of Egypt, so volunteers are scrambling to register people, get them connected with their embassies, and get them home as fast as possible. However, it seems that many embassies (Bangladesh in particular) are understaffed and not able or willing to be of much help to their citizens, so there are at least a thousand people sleeping in "no man's land" between Libya and Egypt, many of them outside. I've slept out in the desert this time of year, and the temperature can drop to about 10 celsisus/50 fahrenheit at night, if not lower. Ismail said there are no bathrooms, no tents, and no food. IOM, the UNHCR and a few other organizations are distributing blankets and trying to get food, but sometimes the most they can hand out is one meal per day. Some of the people trying to get home have been sleeping outside for over a week, with no clear timeline as to when they might be able to leave.

As you might have read, once large numbers of the Libyan army refused to fire on their own people, Gaddafi began paying African mercenaries from places like Chad and Nigeria to come in and quell the protests. This has resulted in great fear and suspicion among the Libyans, and great danger for anyone who is or looks sub-Saharan Africa. Today, a couple who had fled Cote D'Ivoire for Libya a few years ago arrived at the Egyptian border, fleeing once again. When asked, "Do you want to go home - to Cote d'Ivoire?" they answered, "No. We fled because we had to. They'll kill us there." When asked, "Do you want to go back to the town you came from in Libya?" their answer was the same. Ismail said he felt helpless talking with them, and searched (in vain) for the UNHCR, which he says seems to have only about seven people on the ground right now.

These stories are repeating themselves over and over, and reports say that it's even worse at the Tunisian border, which is closer to Tripoli. Thousands of people, including thousands of Egyptians, are stranded there, as Embassies and aid organizations work to get them out. But for many, like the couple from Cote d'Ivoire, getting them out is much more difficult than it seems.

Pray for all those at the borders. Pray for all Libyans. Pray that Gaddafi will go.