Kampe og væbnede konflikter gør det farligt for hjælpearbejdere at nå ud til titusinder af mennesker på flugt i Libyen. Mange organisationer har trukket deres medarbejdere ud af Libyen, og EU’s humanitære hjælpeorgan, ECHO, prioriterer ikke Libyen højt.
DUBAI, 1 October 2014 (IRIN) – A wave of violence between militia groups vying for power is sweeping across parts of Libya, prompting international organizations to put forth an ambitious plan to provide humanitarian aid to 85,000 people by the end of this year.
Yet concerns remain over the feasibility of such an operation, given the security risks, access issues and communication problems.
Since May at least 165,000 Libyans have fled their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as the capital Tripoli has been rocked by clashes.
This is in addition to over 55,000 people who have been displaced since the Western-backed military overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, many of whom have now been re-displaced.
Last week the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) sent their second aid convoy into the country from Tunisia, delivering food and materials to 6,700 people in the western Libyan areas of Zintan, Gharyan and Tarhuna.
The organizations say this is the start of a much larger programme, with UNHCR aiming to reach 85,000 people by the end of the year – including in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Few aid workers on the ground
There are numerous reasons why this might be a challenge. The first is the small number of humanitarian actors with staff on the ground.
Following Gaddafi’s overthrow, oil-rich Libya was thought to be less in need of aid than other Arab countries.
Huge amounts of newly unfrozen reserves were earmarked for development and humanitarian support, with traditional donors such as the European Commission’s humanitarian aid body ECHO not seeing the country as a priority.
This trend for disengagement has been exacerbated by worsening security. In May, fighting between different militia groups erupted in and around Benghazi and more recently in Tripoli and the surrounding areas, causing aid organizations to review their staff security.
International organizations, including many UN agencies, have withdrawn most of their employees to neighbouring Tunisia because of the surge in violence.
Laure Chadraoui, spokesperson for WFP, said this causes logistical problems when planning major aid deliveries.
“Availability of reliable cooperating partners remains a major challenge,” she said.
WFP and the UN are now operating through local organizations such as Taher Al-Zawi and the few international NGOs that remain active on the ground, such as the International Medical Corps (IMC), but doubts remain over their ability to scale up their operations unless fighting eases.
Access problems
Amid ongoing clashes, reaching the displaced can become nearly impossible.
“It’s all because of the heavy fighting,” said Abdulrahman Alfetouri, field coordinator on the ground for IMC.
“[In many cases] we couldn’t reach [civilians] through the roads that are mainly used by the sides leading this fight,” he said.
WFP’s Chadraoui admitted the armed conflict between groups poses “significant operational constraints” on aid delivery.
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