EU triples aid to Libyan refugees

Georgieva pledges €30 million to deal with refugee crisis at Libyan border.

Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid, announced during a visit to the Libyan-Tunisian border today (3 March) that the Commission will triple its emergency assistance to people fleeing violence in Libya, to €30 million.

She called on the EU’s member states to increase their aid as well. She also called on the member states to assist in repatriating tens of thousands of Egyptian workers who fled Libya for Tunisia.

Georgieva described the situation at the Libyan border as a “major humanitarian crisis at Europe’s doorstep”.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, 9,000 people – most of them Egyptians – crossed into Tunisia yesterday. In all, up to 95,000 people have entered Tunisia from Libya since the violence began, and 83,000 have entered Egypt during the same period.

The Egyptian consulate in Tunis said that of the 43,600 Egyptians who had fled to Tunisia, 32,000 have returned or are in the process of returning. During the course of today, 27 planes carried refugees from Tunisia to Egypt.

The United Kingdom announced yesterday that it would provide flights for around 6,000 Egyptians in Tunisia. Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, said today that three German warships would evacuate 4,000 Egyptians from Tunisia.

Two experts from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid office have entered eastern Libya, which is controlled by insurgents, and have reported that there is no immediate need for emergency aid, according to the Commission.

 

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