Tuesday, March 1, 2011

'Refugee crisis' on Libyan border

The circumstance on Libya's border with Tunisia has arrived at crisis position, as tens of thousands of foreigners flee unrest in the nation, the UN says.

Help workers appear unable to cope with all the influx, say correspondents. Some 140,000 have gone to Tunisia and Egypt.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has instructed Western journalists he is loved by his individuals and denied protests in Tripoli.

His interview arrived amid reviews that he is trying to regain manage of rebel regions in western Libya.

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

Witnesses said pro-Gaddafi forces tried to retake the western cities of Zawiya, Misrata and Nalut on Monday but had been repulsed by rebels aided by defecting army units.

The rebels said they had killed eight pro-Gaddafi militia, but there had been no opposition fatalities. There has been no term through the federal government on casualties.

You'll find fears in Zawiya the city could possibly be attacked through the air, however the rebels remained defiant.

"We're not
right here for energy, authority or cash," they said inside a concept aimed at Col Gaddafi.

"We are right here for the trigger of flexibility as well as the cost we are prepared to shell out is with our own blood... It's victory or demise."

In other developments:

* The Red Cross is requesting use of western Libya, amid unconfirmed reviews of attacks on physicians and summary killings of patients
* Austria freezes assets of your Libyan leadership really worth one.2bn euros ($1.65bn; £1.02bn) as Germany freezes the financial institution account of one particular of Col Gaddafi's sons
* Libyan air force 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 tried to disperse them by firing in the air
* Reviews say there happen to be extended queues in Tripoli banking institutions as individuals tried to gather the 500 dinars (£250; $410) promised from the federal government in an try to quell the unrest

'Forgotten'

A spokeswoman for the UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming, said 70,000-75,000 individuals have fled to Tunisia given that violence began in Libya on 20 February. A related amount have gone to Egypt, where most happen to be in a position to continue their journeys onward.

"Our workers to the Libya-Tunisia border have instructed us this morning the circumstance there exists reaching crisis position," she said, quoted by AFP information company.

About two,000 individuals are crossing into Tunisia each and every hour but as soon as in Tunisia many of them have nowhere to go. One more 20,000 are said to become backed up to the Libyan aspect.

Most are Egyptian, but you'll find also substantial figures of Chinese and Bangladeshis.

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

Temperatures plummeted overnight and our correspondent found the physique of the young Egyptian guy who had apparently died of cold.