“Heavy gunfire and artillery shelling could sometimes be heard in Benghazi, particularly at nights”
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has evacuated some 35 Somali refugees including 7 women, who stranded in Libya to the neighboring Egypt, eyewitnesses said on Wednesday.
The Somali refugees, who reached the harbor at Alexandria, are the first to be evacuated from Libya by ship since some world governments started to evacuate their nationals from Libua as as the conflicts between Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and rebels intensified.
Ali Nasir, a Somali refugee, said that they were evacuated from the city of Benghazi by IOM.
“Heavy gunfire and artillery shelling could sometimes be heard in Benghazi, particularly at nights” Nasir added.
Nasir indicated that Benghazi was extremely violentand that Somalis are targeted, adding that one refugee suffered injuries to his face that were inflicted by some of the protestors. He said an estimated 100 Somali refugees remain stranded in that town.
Some 400 Bangladeshis, Lebanese, Egyptians and Malians were among those who boarded the Greek ship, Nasir explained.
Over the weekend, the transitional federal government of Somalia announced that the Arab League has agreed to assist in the evacuation of Somali refugees stranded in Libya.
The government said an estimated 2,100 refugees from Somalia still remain in Libya, while more than 20 Somalis have already crossed to neighboring Tunisia.
Last week, hundreds of Somalis took refuge in the Somali embassy in Tripoli after they were forced to vacate their homes.
Nonetheless, Foreigners in Libya are targeted by revolutionaries who believe them to be mercenaries brought in to prop up Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
A Libyan protestor has recently told Al jazeeara television that they captured dozens of Somalis whom he said were fighting along Libyan leader’s own forces. And that made the situation of the stranded Somalis in Libya too worse.
Source: www.allheadlinenews.com
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