14 March 2011

U.S. Humanitarian Aid Reaching People Inside Libya, Refugees

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Although the security situation in Libya is preventing a U.S. disaster assistance response team (DART) from entering the country, Obama administration officials say U.S. humanitarian aid is arriving through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) there and is addressing health care and food security, which have been identified as the most urgent needs.

Speaking to reporters March 14, State Department Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric Schwartz and U.S. Agency for International Development Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg said the $47 million that the United States has provided to help refugees and migrants fleeing the violence between the Libyan government and its political opponents is being used inside Libya as well as in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.

Schwartz and Lindborg returned from a March 8–12 trip to Tunisia and Egypt, where they assessed the humanitarian needs.

“We are already and have been for some time now providing assistance directly inside of Libya through our NGO and other partners,” Lindborg said.

“One of the greatest concerns inside Libya is, first of all, health needs, both urgent and just the regular primary health care needs, and ongoing food security challenges, which is why the emphasis for work inside Libya has been on the health and on the food security needs,” she said.

Although there are serious concerns about the situation in the west of the country, in the rebel-held east, Lindborg said, “fortunately, because of the rapid mobilization of assistance … some of the most immediate health and food needs were met. And we’re continuing to provide and watch as needs evolve and change.”

She said the United States has given the U.N.’s World Health Organization two emergency health kits, “each of which provides primary health care needs for a population of 10,000 for three months.” In addition, $10 million in assistance has gone to the World Food Programme and is being targeted at those in Tunisia and Egypt who have been the most economically affected by the crisis, as well as people inside Libya.

“In Tunisia in particular … they’re feeling the triple whammy of loss of tourism, loss of trade with Libya and loss of the remittances and the workers who worked there. And yet despite that, there is a tremendous outpouring of support by the Tunisian people themselves, as well as the government, to support those coming across the border,” she said.

U.S. government aid has also included $7 million to the International Committee for the Red Cross, and an additional $4 million to other NGO partners, she said.

The assistance is supporting primary health care, trauma-related health and medical assistance, and providing blankets, hygiene kits, water containers and high-energy biscuits, Lindborg said.

Schwartz said that since fighting began in late February, at least 140,000 people, mostly foreign workers, fled from Libya into Tunisia and an additional 110,000 or so fled to Egypt — creating “an enormous humanitarian challenge in the region.”

He added that there are about 17,000 foreign workers living in a camp on the Tunisian-Libyan border who are waiting to get transport to their home countries, and around 5,000 living in a camp on the Egyptian side.

“There are significant challenges there in terms of enhancing shelter in the border area, as well as providing for the needs of those who have come across who may not be able to … go back to their countries of origin because they’re refugees,” he said.

Schwartz said he and Lindborg heard many reports and firsthand accounts of the difficulties many experienced leaving Libya. Many were robbed, had parts of their cellular phones confiscated and faced many checkpoints and restrictions as they tried to flee the violence, he said.

“People have just generally had a hell of a hard time getting out,” he said.

According to Lindborg, a DART team made up of 15 U.S. civilians is in the region and prepared to assess the humanitarian situation.

“They are working to ensure that we are fully coordinated … with the international humanitarian assistance effort and to track urgent needs as they evolve,” she said, but due to continued concerns over the security situation, they have not yet entered Libya.

“As soon as the security situation permits, we will go in,” she said.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)