Fortsat forfølgelse og hævnangreb på den befolkningsgruppe, der beskyldes for at have dræbt og voldtaget på Gaddafis vegne, truer med at skabe konflikt
TRIPOLI, 13 December 2011 (IRIN) – A major challenge facing Libya as it emerges from a nine-month civil war will be reconciling and integrating thousands of Tawergha accused of killing and raping residents of Misrata on behalf of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Theirs is the most extreme test of national reconciliation for a government that will have to integrate several groups of Gaddafi loyalists, including those in the towns of Bani Walid and Sirte, if the revolution is to be successful.
“The principle is extremely important,” said Emmanuel Gignac, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Libya. “The country will not stand if you have rejected communities within it.”
The dark-skinned Tawergha minority – former slaves brought to Libya in the 18th and 19th centuries – resided until recently in a coastal town of the same name 250km east of the capital Tripoli.
With the rise to power of the rebels, the Tawergha are now on the defensive. Their town sits empty – doors hanging open and homes burned; the sign leading to the city has been changed to New Misrata and its population told not to return.
Continued harassment and revenge attacks on this minority threaten to re-ignite conflict, say aid workers.
In an abandoned Turkish company compound on Airport Road in Tripoli, more than 1,500 displaced Tawergha spend their days brushing away flies and watching their children play with toy guns amid piles of rubbish.
Here, women and children have huddled around on the uncovered mattresses they sleep on, weeping. They arrived in early November after a physically and emotionally draining journey from Tawergha, having been displaced by armed men every time they settled somewhere new.
Every one told of a father, son or brother who is either dead or in jail.
Mere på http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94455
