Fresh fighting in the New Year triggers displacement in Libya
The displacement has been centred around Benghazi, Derna, and near the Gulf of Sidra in Ben Jawad and Ras Lanuf. Some 400,000 people are displaced across Libya.
GENEVA, January 15 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency on Friday reported that stepped up fighting in Benghazi and other towns and cities in eastern Libya since the start of the year has sparked fresh displacement.
The displacement has been centred around Benghazi, Derna, and near the Gulf of Sidra in Ben Jawad and Ras Lanuf. Many people have had to flee for a fourth or fifth time, making numbers hard to estimate, but in Benghazi alone the local council is reporting that around 90,000 people are unable to return home.
UNHCR estimates that the fresh displacement brings the number of internally displaced people across Libya to about 400,000. In addition, Libya is host to nearly 37,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities whose humanitarian conditions are increasingly precarious.
Near the national capital Tripoli in the west, NGOs and the local council estimate more than 83,200 people are living in settlements, schools and abandoned buildings. Many are unable to access health care or education for their children. A significant number have limited ability to access cash for food.
Most have been displaced for three to six months with increasing numbers being hosted in public facilities such as schools. As their cash savings dwindle they are unable to pay for housing rental. The current winter months are especially tough as temperatures in Tripoli, Benghazi and southern towns are below 10 degrees Celsius.
In south-west Libya, internally displaced people from the town of Awbari are facing difficulties in their daily lives as services have been severely disrupted by fighting between rival tribal groups. The current fighting has meant that schools, hospitals and markets remain completely inaccessible.
Shortages of fuel, electricity, water and food are being reported by local crisis committees and NGOs who say some 18,500 people from Awbari are currently displaced in six towns: Sabha, Wadi Shati, Jufra, Ghat, Murzuq and Lewenat.
In the past seven months, UNHCR has distributed aid item to almost 28,000 people in Tripoli and other western cities, including to members of the Tawerghan community displaced since 2011. On January 5, in partnership with the Tomazeen NGO in Libya, UNHCR delivered sleeping mats, plastic sheets and kitchen sets to 150 displaced families in the southern towns of Ghat, Lawenat and Tahala.
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Update No.19 on the humanitarian situation in Libya and the neighbouring countries
15 Apr 2011 ... Update no 19 Humanitarian Situation in Libya and the Neighbouring Countries 15 April 2011 Population Movements By 13 April, a total of 513,951 people had crossed from Libya into neighbouring ...... -
Update No.20 on the humanitarian situation in Libya and the neighbouring countries
19 Apr 2011 ... Update no 20 Humanitarian Situation in Libya and the Neighbouring Countries 19 April 2011 Population Movements By 18 April, a total of 550,680 people had crossed from Libya into neighbouring ...... -
Update No.22 on the humanitarian situation in Libya and the neighbouring countries
28 Apr 2011 ... Update no 22 Humanitarian Situation in Libya and the Neighbouring Countries 28 April 2011 Population Movements By 27 April, a total of 634,835 people had crossed from Libya into neighbouring ...... -
Update No.26 on the humanitarian situation in Libya and the neighbouring countries
27 May 2011 ... in Libya and the Neighbouring Countries 27 May 2011 TUNISIA Djerba, Ras Jdir (Medenine Governorate) This week saw serious disruption at the Choucha camp near the Tunisia - Libya border where ...... -
A new home for Tripoli's refugees
4 Dec 2002 ... TRIPOLI, Libya, December 4 (UNHCR) - After years spent living in a chaotic shelter smack in the centre of the Libyan capital without adequate space or proper sanitary conditions - where some ...... -
UNHCR Country Operations Plan 2007 - Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
1 Sep 2006 ... COUNTRY OPERATIONS PLAN Executive Committee Summary Country: Libya Planning Year: 2007 2 Part I: OVERVIEW 1. Protection and socio-economic operational environment Many foreigners come to Libya with a ...... -
UNHCR chief and Libyan partner discuss protection for refugees in mixed migration flows
15 Oct 2009 ... has held talks with UNHCR's main partner in Libya on the pressing issue of ensuring protection ... Each year, thousands of people from sub-Saharan Africa risk their lives to reach Libya, where they ...... -
Libyans twice uprooted by war call for urgent help
7 Dec 2016 ... Displaced Libyan father of three Mohmed wants to return to his home in the coastal city of Sirte, ... More than five years of violent upheaval in Libya began with the uprising that removed ruler Muammar ...... -
Update No.3 on the humanitarian situation in Libya and the neighbouring countries
6 Mar 2011 ... and bags. / Refugees and workers living in Libya fled into northern Egypt after repeated violence directed at refugees and migrant workers in Libya / UNHCR / F.NOY / March 2011 FLASH: Donors are ......