Campaign launched to aid Sudanese refugees to Libya

The Libyan Humanitarian Foundation has announced the launch of a broad Libyan popular relief campaign to provide urgent assistance to Sudanese refugees fleeing the war to the Kufra district in Libya’s south-eastern region of Cyrenaica.

The foundation’s leader, Dr El Haddad, said that the initiative was launched after intensive consultations with non-governmental civil society institutions, organisations and associations, in cooperation with the Sudanese embassy and communities in Tripoli, and in direct coordination with relevant government agencies, and with the support of the Presidential Council, the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, in addition to communication with the mayor of Kufra municipality and its crisis committee, stressing that the work is being done officially and with the knowledge of all competent authorities.

Three axes

For his part, Scout Leader Abdul Nasser El Asti, head of the El Tarham Association in Tajoura, said that the campaign is based on three main axes: land, air and sea, noting that the first phase focuses on a land convoy that sets off from Tajoura to Kufra via Ajdabiya, aiming to provide humanitarian, medical and awareness assistance in partnership between the Libyan people and the Sudanese community.

El Asti pointed out that the collection of urgent aid, including food, clothing and winter blankets, has begun in the municipality of Tajoura, noting that the El Tarham and El Tawasul Charitable Association receives aid daily from citizens and supporting entities, to be sent by land to Kufra starting from the sixth of next December, as a first phase within the convoy that is run by the Libyan Humanitarian Foundation.

Medical convoy

In the same context, Dr Umayya El Talhi, head of the medical team, revealed arrangements to launch an integrated medical convoy with the participation of Sudanese doctors, aimed at providing treatment, health services and awareness, in addition to addressing the educational challenges facing the children of displaced families, as volunteer specialist doctors from the Sudanese community will participate in it.

Voluntary return

As for the third axis, Dr Ibrahim El Faqih, Director of the Ubari Youth Hostels Association, said that the campaign includes arrangements for the voluntary return of those wishing to return to Sudan by land, sea or air, noting that the convoy will include a delegation of Darfur leaders present in Libya to present discussion sessions and workshops focused on voluntary return in accordance with appropriate humanitarian controls.

Humanitarian effort

Dr Shukri Ibrahim, Operations Director at the Sheikh El Taher El Zawi Charitable Foundation, explained that the initiative is a purely Libyan humanitarian effort in solidarity with the Sudanese people affected by the war, particularly the recent events in El Fasher. He indicated that the foundation has prepared a container of new clothing as an initial contribution to the convoy, continuing its efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Khattab Khaled, the organisation’s official in Kufra, pointed out that the city has received hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the war in recent months, including families living in extremely complex conditions, whose numbers exceed the population of the municipality, which calls for urgent humanitarian intervention, especially with the beginning of winter and the worsening conditions for children, women and the elderly. A member of the Tajoura Council of Elders and Notables said: “We are deeply pained by what is happening in Sudan, and God knows that we are eager to do what we can. We consider Tajoura’s participation in this land convoy a preliminary experience; if the aid reaches those who deserve it and the Libyan Humanitarian Foundation is able to achieve this humanitarian goal, then, God willing, we will not stop, and the future will be better, because we are Muslims and we feel what Sudan is going through.”