Fifty-two-year-old Ahmed Awad recently sat with thousands of other Egyptians in Gabes-Matmata Airport (470 km southeast Tunisia) waiting for a meal to be distributed by the Red Crescent.  Awad checked his passport repeatedly—he was afraid he might lose it, just as he had lost his bag at Ras Ajdir border crossing (600 kilometers in southeastern Tunisia).

Fifty-two-year-old Ahmed Awad recently sat with thousands of other Egyptians in Gabes-Matmata Airport (470 km southeast Tunisia) waiting for a meal to be distributed by the Red Crescent.  Awad checked his passport repeatedly—he was afraid he might lose it, just as he had lost his bag at Ras Ajdir border crossing (600 kilometers in southeastern Tunisia).

“I felt safe upon arriving on Tunisian territory,” Awad said. “We had stayed at the border for ten days under the scorching sun and the Libyan police officers treated us harshly using batons to impose order and discipline.  Fear and our unknown fate overwhelmed our hunger and thirst.”

Awad claimed that the security officers on the Libyan side of Ras Ajdir crossing used live bullets to intimidate refugees who fled from Tripoli to assemble them in one place, which wounded a number of them.

“Our numbers have exceeded 10,000 Egyptians and the chaotic situation among the crowds to try and enter the Tunisian territory does not justify targeting us directly with live bullets,” he said and explained that their attempt to storm into the gate of Tunisia was “to leave the area controlled by lawless militias that have no respect for the rights of refugees.”

Awad said the high unemployment rate in Egypt forced him to leave his homeland 12 years ago to work in Libya, but the onslaught of violence in Tripoli forced him to quit his job at a clothing store, which imports goods from Turkey. “The warmth of the family in Upper Egypt will not ensure me 400 Libyan dinars ($326) which I used to receive every month,” he said.

Five times the salary

Twenty-eight-year-old Hassan Salameh, also Egyptian, said even a job cleaning in Libya guaranteed him a salary five times what he might earn in a commercial center in Egypt.  This has forced thousands of Egyptians to migrate to Libyan cities and accept jobs they normally would have refused at home.

Awad went to Libya for the first time in 2010 and left in 2011 upon the outbreak of the Libyan revolution, but he came back after four months. He says their arrival from Tripoli to the Tunisian border differs today from the situation in 2011.

“This time, we were not looted since the armed militias protected us from the outlaws and accompanied us without involving us in their internal conflicts,” he said.

Humanitarian aspect

Cases of exhaustion and illness among the Egyptians who arrived at Gabes airport, were far worse than those of the refugees who fled Libya before the fall of Gaddafi’s regime, according to Khalil Ashour, a volunteer medic for three years at the Tunisian Red Crescent.

Ashour added that the Red Crescent observed several cases of grave malnutrition among the Egyptians since they used to depend on one meal a day limited to a few vegetables before arriving to Tunisia.

“We provided them with three meals a day to ensure their nutritional balance and help them overcome the state of neglect they suffered for ten days in Libya,” said AShour. “We have recorded several cases of fainting and reported two injuries with gunfire that  remained untreated for a week and required immediate medical intervention by health entities in the region.”

Ashour said the Red Crescent does far more than just distribute food and medical aid— it has provided psychological counseling for the refugees to help them overcome the suffering they witnessed in Libya, in addition to transferring their luggage and accompanying them until boarding.

The International Organization for Migration has coordinated with the reporters who volunteered to provide logistic updates and communicate the needs of the Egyptians at Ras Ajdir crossing, Gabes city and Djerba Island airport.

Evacuating the trapped refugees

Egyptian Ambassador in Tunis Ayman Mashrafah said the coordination between the Egyptian and Tunisian authorities has succeeded in evacuating nearly 9,000 Egyptians through Gabes and Djerba airports, in addition to establishing an airlift in Zarzis city. He said the evacuation procedures are underway in order ensure the safe return of Egyptians to their homeland.

Ambassador Mashrafah could not give say the exact number of Egyptians in Libya due to the deteriorated security situation, but the Egyptian Embassy operates in accordance with teams on the ground on both the Libyan and Tunisian sides of Ras Ajdir crossing.  “Egypt will not abandon its citizens and will provide them with all necessary care,” he said, noting that the Egyptian Armed Forces sent over ten tons of food to be delivered to the trapped Egyptians in Libya.

The Minister of Civil Aviation Hossam Kamal, announced on August 10 that the airlift, prepared by Egypt ten days earlier to transfer the displaced Egyptians trapped in the Egyptian-Libyan border, would transfer 11,000 Egyptians in 46 planes by  from Tunisia within a week.

The early days of evacuation witnessed several attempts to break into the Tunisian border gate, which were addressed by the security forces by firing tear gas to disperse nearly 5,000 Egyptians and force them to return to the Libyan territory. Ras Ajdir crossing, which has become similar to an Egyptian governorate, witnessed the arrival of military reinforcements to prevent Egyptians from illegally entering Tunisia and deporting them directly to Djerba Island airport.

Additionally, customs agents prevented the entrance of refugees in numbers that exceeded the bus seats available at the airport. These strict security measures were in accordance with the recommendations of the Tunisian government, which objected to establishing camps on its territory and punished those who violated Tunisian foreign residency laws.

Heightened security checks

The armed forces on the border subjected all passengers of various nationalities to heavy inspections under suspicion of smuggling weapons to terrorists who store them and use them later against the security and the army, similar to what happened in 2011 during the mass exodus from Libya.

Evacuating the Egyptians’ procedures differed from those related to evacuating the diplomatic missions, which were accompanied by security members until their arrival to the airport’s runways. Additionally, all necessary means to evacuate the workers with European nationalities were taken and their embassies provided special buses to transport them directly to Djerba-Zarzis International Airport. Escaping the armed conflict in Tripoli and other cities was not limited to foreign nationals as thousands of Libyans left their homes to stay in Tunisia in furnished apartments and hotels.