The number of beggars in Tripoli has been on the rise during Ramadan. Families sit on sidewalks and ask passersby for money, while some families force their children to sell napkins or cheap goods.

Majida Ajab, who is Sudanese, has lived in Sabha for 20 years. When she could no longer earn a living, especially with skyrocketing prices and rampant insecurity in Southern Libya, she traveled to Tripoli.

The number of beggars in Tripoli has been on the rise during Ramadan. Families sit on sidewalks and ask passersby for money, while some families force their children to sell napkins or cheap goods.

Majida Ajab, who is Sudanese, has lived in Sabha for 20 years. When she could no longer earn a living, especially with skyrocketing prices and rampant insecurity in Southern Libya, she traveled to Tripoli.

Ajab had migrated to Libya along with her five children when her husband died. She fled the war in Darfur that destroyed everything they had. To earn a living, Sudanese women in Libya make incense and perfumes as well as henna.

Children beggars

Life in Tripoli was not easier. The extremely deteriorating economic situation and the soaring rents and food prices have forced Ajab to beg. “Through begging, my children and I not only make ends meet but we can also pay the rent,” she says.

Not far from the intersection where Ajab begs, Rimah, 7, along with her mother and brothers sell napkins and sometimes beg. Every morning, they arrive to the city from an area called Karimiyeh, which houses a large number of Sudanese families who survive the way Rimah’s family does.

Rimah says her mother fled their residence area when fighting broke out there and sent them on their way to Tripoli. She says they live with another Sudanese family that also begs.

“Libyans sympathize with us a lot and give us money,” says another little girl who along with her mother and brothers sells napkins and beg. They used to live in Sirte, but after the situation worsened, they escaped to Tripoli and are now staying with relatives.

No control

Ajab says she has been sitting at the same intersection to beg for two weeks in a row without getting harassed or questioned by any security officer. “I have a legal residency and a health report and all my papers are proper and legal,” she says.

But families who make their children beg violates Libyan law, and the lack of law enforcement bodies has aggravated the situation, especially in 2016. Head of the Illegal Migration Agency (IMA) Deportation Office Mustapha Idris says a raft of beggars arrested by the Anti-Begging Committee (ABC) was expelled.

Formed by the Ministry of Interior in August 2015 in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) under the previous National Salvation Government, the ABC was responsible for combating begging and selling on public roads and it provided services for several months until it was suspended after the re-shuffle.

Achievements

ABC Chairman Colonel Mohammad Baccouche believes that the increased number of beggars is normal owing to ABCs suspension due to a lack of funding and because the MoSA has given up its role in this regard. According to ABC Formation Decision, the MoSA had to provide social workers, transportation and rewards to the team tasked with arresting and interrogating beggars.

Previously, says Baccouche, some beggars used to be referred to the Solidarity Fund and others to the Ministry of Religious Affairs Zakat Fund. The ABC was tasked with arresting and interrogating beggars, and referring illegal residents to the IMA, which in turn deports them. Social workers conduct social research on Libyan beggars and study their financial situation to develop solutions.

Former Minister of Social Affairs Samira Ferjani concurs with Baccouche. “The ABC managed to arrest a large number of violators and of people belonging to networks practicing a variety of offences,” she says.

Ferjani adds that the ABC arrested spies and found photographs of military sites with them. It referred them to the Intelligence Agency. Others were involved in obscene crimes and were referred to the Vice Squad.

IDPs

Head of the IDP from Benghazi Committee says they distribute aid to both IDPs and foreign migrants, noting that the general living conditions of the displaced are modest.

Head of Tripoli Branch of the IDP from Sirte Committee says the committee has not received any governmental support and barely gets aid from philanthropists. The number of displaced families from Sirte, he says, is up to 2,100, including families from Egypt, Sudan and Palestine, and the distributed aid has only been cans of oil, tomato paste, milk and some other food items.