Reply #14: Tripoli celebrates but black Africans stuck in quagmire [View All]

[Cali_Democrat]

Tripoli celebrates but black Africans stuck in quagmire
14 September 2011, Wednesday / KÜRŞAT BAYHAN, TRIPOLI

As thousands of members of the opposition in the Libyan capital of Tripoli celebrate an end to 42 years of Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s rule, around 1,500 mostly African refugees housed in fishing barracks in Sidi Bilal, some 25 kilometers west of Tripoli, live in fear of their lives simply for being black.


This camp, made out of broken down tents and abandoned fishing boats, is home to women and children who have been waiting for two months to be rescued. People here must walk two kilometers just to get potable water.

Said Musim, a 22-year-old Algerian who had worked with a family in Tripoli before the clashes began, moved to the camp because he thought it would be safer amidst all the fighting. “I was living in Abu Buslim. It was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting between Qaddafi forces and the opposition. There were many Africans living there, so when the clashes began, we came to this fishing shelter believing it would be safer. This actually used to a be a Libyan naval port, but now it’s just full of abandoned fishing boats. Before coming here, I called a friend of mine, who assured me it was safe here, and so I came to this camp,” he said.

Read more: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-256807-tripoli-celebrates-but-black-africans-stuck-in-quagmire.html