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By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tobruk, 24 January 2017:
Returning exiles were been given VIP treatment when they returned to Libya from Egypt yesterday evening. As they passed the border town of Musaid, locals gathered along the roadside cheering and shouting: “Welcome back to your country, you are with family now.”
The convoy of 16 families, the first organised by the NGO Al-Adala Awalan (“Justice First”) to ensure that exiled Libyan families could return safely to the country, were met at the border crossing by local tribal elders. There, at an official reception, they shook hands with a line of officers. After that, they were accompanied by security officials all the way to Tobruk. Other vehicles on the road were stopped to give them priority. Again, people on the streets waved at the passing vehicles.
When the group finally arrived in Tobruk their convey was cheered on all sides and greeted with fireworks. A welcome reception was held at which the mayor of Tobruk, officials from local government and tribal elders gave speeches to mark the occasion.
“I never expected anything like it,” one of those in the convoy told the Libya Herald.
One small child, only six years old, incredulously asked her mother if all the people around her were really Libyan. Having spent her whole life moving from place to place, she had had grown accustomed to seeing a constant flux of nationalities.
Almost all of the returnees originated from Tawergha, whose residents were accused of supporting Qaddafi during the 2011 revolution. One told this newspaper that while he was happy to return to Libya, he would be happier still when he returned to his home town.
Al-Adala Awalan (“Justice First”), whose chairman is the Libyan businessman and philanthropist Hassan Tatanaki.
At the celebration last night he said it showed what the Libyan people could do without outside interference or government help. Libyans were tired of war and sick of six years of constant fighting, he said.
“Lets start to rebuild our country and make it better than before,” he added.
It was also claimed that the exiles would meet with House of Representatives chairman Ageela Saleh tonight, though this was not confirmed.
The 16 families, totalling 65 individuals, have been given fully furnished apartments in Tobruk complete with new furniture and kitchen stocked with food. Justice First will also provide the families with a monthly stipend of LD 1,000 month alongside the accommodation for a year.
A second convoy for Tobruk is planned next week. It will take some of those families who should have joined yesterday but who held off at the last minute, worried at how they would be received. They are reported to have decided to see how the first convoy was welcomed before the making the move back to Libya.
The convoy left Cairo on 22 January, accompanied by an ambulance that which unfortunately was involved in an accident en route.
Justice First plan the convoy as the first step in much larger plans to bring back hundreds of Libyan families currently residing in Egypt and Tunisia. At the moment there is no government funding form either the Tripoli or Beida government, nor the UN or international community.
However, according to Tatanaki, there have now been some offers of support. The Awqaf office in Beida has said it would support 50 families in the town for a year while a number of towns in wester Libya’s Jebel Nafusa have also offered help.
“We’ll not stop until we get Libyans back home,” Tatanaki said.
