By Jamal Adel.
Kufra, 18 November 2014:
Ajdabiya’s municipality has been honoured by Tawergha Local Council for its work in providing accommodation to . . .[restrict]refugees –both Tawerghans and others from around the country. At a ceremony yesterday to make the event, attended by a large turnout of Ajdabiya officials, health sector workers and representatives of civil society activists, Abdulrahman Al-Shikshack, the leader of the Tawergha Local Council (itself operating in exile), xpressed his “profound gratitude” to Ajdabiya’s mayor, Salim Jedhran, and the municipal council for their services and the hospitality provided to the refugees.
“There are now 2,200 refugees in Ajdabiya, mostly from Benghazi, Tripoli, Warshefana and Tawergha,” the head of the town’s Refugee Crisis Committee, Abdulbaset Al-Nazal, told the Libya Herald.
The latest influx of Tawerghans – and others – occurred last month as a result of the fighting in Benghazi’s Garyounis district. Some 510 Tawerghan families at a camp there had to flee, and were given accommodation in both Gemenis and Ajdabiya.
Ajdabiya itself, the stronghold of Ibrahim Jedhran’s Cyrenaica movement, has a population of just over 100,000.
According to officials, the presence of the refugees has proved a heavy burden for the town, all the more so given the present lack of insecurity and the divisions in the country.
“We are having serous difficulties in sheltering the refugees and coping with increasing numbers – and there is a severe lack of funds, Al-Nazal explained.
Local businessmen and civil society organisations were doing much to provide help for the refugees, this paper was told.
There is a strong sense of obligation among ordinary people in Ajdabiya to help fellow Libyans fleeing violence. During the 2011 revolution, it was the other way around: much of the town’s population fled east and were given shelter and food in Benghazi and other towns. [/restrict]
