Developing Nations Feel Powerless as Danger to Their Nationals Escalates in Libya (Report)

African migrants often use Libya as a transit point for destinations in Europe. They are among the thousands of Africans stranded in chaotic Libya. CREDIT: Human Rights Watch(HN, February 27, 2011) UPDATED 1100GMT--- As the increasingly isolated Colonel Gaddafi threatens to crackdown on dissent "to the last bullet," tens of thousands of expatriates from developing countries - mostly sub-Sahara Africa - remain stranded in Libya as their governments scramble to implement evacuation plans.

In recent hours and days, the situation has been exacerbated with a rapidly-deteriorating security situation. Some evacuees landing back in the UK last night described the violence as a "living hell," and some African migrants say they have faced open hostility in Libya because many people associate them with brutal mercenaries hired by the Qaddafi regime.

Libya is also a major transit point for sub-Saharan Africans fleeing to Europe (see map below).

One international observer describes the situation for African migrant workers as utterly dire.

"I tell you, these people, because of their scheme, they will be slaughtered in Libya. There is so much anger there against those mercenaries, which suddenly sprung up. I think it is urgent to do something about it now, otherwise, a genocide against anyone who has black skin and who doesn't speak perfect Arabic," Saad Jabbar, Deputy Director, North Africa Center at Cambridge University, told NPR.

Indeed, one Turkish evacuee told western journalists that he personally saw the bodies of as many as 80 Sudanese and Chadian nationals working for his oil company. "They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you're providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were massacred. We saw it ourselves," said the unidentified oil worker.

Options even for wealthy nations with expatriates in Libya are limited. The international airport in Tripoli is reported to be in a state of chaos and, according to published reports, the British Foreign Office was forced to pay airport operators astronomical fees for aircraft and passenger handling.

Tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans are employed in Libya's oil industry and in other sectors. Countries with large number of migrant workers in the country include: Nigeria, Chad, Ghana, Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Ukraine and Vietnam.

The chaotic scene at Tripoli Airport CREDIT: CTVEgypt alone has more than one million migrant workers in Libya. With its proximity next to the country, it's been able to receive many evacuees by land and then transport them by bus to Cairo and other inland points. Egypt is also benefiting from relatively good relations with Tripoli as well as plenty of spare aircraft owned by Egypt Air that have been grounded by the sharp downturn of business and tourist travel to Egypt.

Though Egypt is also trying to figure out how to repatriate 10,000 Egyptians who have crossed over Libya's western border with Tunisia. A BBC correspondent on the border reported Sunday that at least 20,000 refugees from Libya are stranded at the border, and suggested they could be stuck for days - perhaps even weeks, raising the possibility of a humanitarian crisis.

World superpowers India and China have 18,000 and 30,000 workers respectively in Libya, and Beijing has also come in for criticism for a slow response. (Though in the past few hours, Chinese state media has been reporting that 3,000 stranded Chinese nationals have been moved from Benghazi to Crete via two chartered Greek ferries).

One of the countries in the worst situation is Nigeria - the regional power in West Africa which admits it is virtually powerless to extricate at least 2,000 Nigerians from Libya. The two countries have had strained relations for the last decade, with Tripoli having closed its embassy in Abuja several years ago.

On Wednesday Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the immediate evacuation of Nigerians stranded in the troubled country. However the Gaddafi regime has so far refused to grant landing rights to Nigerian aircraft. Libya still controls its own airspace, so if any government wants to land in the country then permission must be sought from Libyan officials.

The Jonathan Administration came under intense pressure earlier this month when it ignored the pleas of thousands of Nigerians stranded for days at Cairo International Airport amid chaos in that city. Faced with a similar situation in Libya, officials in Abuja even considered asking stranded Nigerians to cross the border into neighbouring Niger or Egypt - but that plan was shelved when it became clear the evacuees would be exposed to fighting and that moving them from border areas would be a logistical nightmare.

As the days drag on, a fuelled aircraft has been waiting for clearance in Nigeria since Thursday - with a large team of immigration officials, foreign affairs and medical personnel. A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Yushau Shuaib, said Nigeria will keep on trying for clearance.

Ukraine says its has about 2,500 of its nationals in Libya. (Among them are at least five Ukrainian "nurses" are reported to be working for Gaddafi - including his personal nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska (Галина Колотницкая), who has decided to abandon the eccentric leader and return to Kyiv, according to Segodnya (Сегодня) newspaper in Ukraine).

Nepal has asked the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help repatriate about 600 of their nationals who had been working in the Libyan town of Derna and who are now waiting to cross at Salum border crossing. It also reports that 900 of their nationals currently stranded in Tripoli and Benghazi would need assistance if the situation deteriorates further. 

In Tripoli, about 350 Sri Lankans are taking shelter at the Sri Lankan Embassy with several hundred other Sri Lankans spread around the country, the IOM says. Meanwhile, about 750 Bangladeshis out of an estimated population of 50,000 are also now heading for the Egyptian border and who will also need food, water and shelter assistance upon arrival.

Vietnamese authorities have told IOM that there are about 10,500 of their nationals in Libya. Although they say some have left, most are still in the country, many without travel documents which were probably kept by their employers.

"The situation for migrants inside Libya is extremely difficult and we are deeply concerned about their plight," says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing. 

This week, the IOM voiced concern about the large number of migrant workers from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia stuck in Libya.

Large numbers of Sub-Saharan irregular migrants in Libya work informally in the service sector or as manual labour. Poorly paid and in irregular work, it is unlikely they have the resources to rent vehicles to get to border areas and reach safety, IOM says.

"Of the tens of thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans and South Asians working in Libya, only a handful have managed to reach the border so far. This is probably because they do not have the resources to pay for transport," says Laurence Hart, IOM's Chief of Mission for Libya.

"We are very concerned for all those migrants who may wish to leave, but cannot. Many countries without the adequate resources to evacuate their nationals are now asking IOM for help.  We are therefore urgently appealing to donors for funding to allow us to intervene," he adds.

- From HUMNEWS Africa Bureau