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At the Saloum border crossing, the border crossing into Egypt, escape route for foreign nationals fleeing the violence in Libya, is situated four kilometres away from the small port town of Saloum, at the extreme west of Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. More than 100,000 people have already crossed over here, heading back to their home countries, running away from the fighting. They go unnoticed by the media, more preoccupied by events in Tunisia.

There are more than 30 nationalities in total, but the majority is Egyptian. Most of them are men, although families are now beginning to arrive. All of them were living and working in Libya. Some are specialised workers, but most are cheap labour, hard-working and uncomplaining, often dirt poor, originating from Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa.
Most of these foreign nationals received swift embassy support for their repatriation, with evacuations of more 200,000 people across the region over the last few weeks.Nearly 2,000 people continue to flood into Egypt each day. At the end of February, the numbers reached 6,000. "It varies from day to day", we were told.

On 8th March, over 5,000 people were still in the waiting zone between the Libyan and Egyptian borders, gathered on a desert hillside. Sleeping on the ground, most under the open sky, in tenuous hygienic conditions, they fight off the cold, the wind and the rain using their sparse belongings, blankets and mats as shelter. They receive food and healthcare from the United Nations, the Egyptian authorities and NGOs, but there is still some chaos with all the arrivals and departures and communication difficulties due to the number of different nationalities. Many survivors are in a state of shock, overwhelmed by events, and with little notion of what their future holds “once they’re back at home”.

Many of them have lost everything, were stripped of all their possessions and papers during their flight across Libya, both in areas controlled by the regime and in the East, in the so-called “liberated” zones.

The stories told by the new arrivals are alarming, particularly those of young African workers who hid from the violence before risking the road. Some of them talk of systematic raids on their homes or lodgings by men with weapons or sticks, forcing them to flee, robbing them. “They accused us of being mercenaries for the regime", related one young man from Cameroon, whose partner was raped before his eyes. “They don’t see us as humans" said another. Some say that members of their community were killed because they had no money, or they tried to resist. But we can’t confirm these reports at this stage.

We know that many foreign nationals from Chad, Mali and Syria are due to arrive “over the next few days”. Several tens of thousands more people. They are clamouring to be heard, but for the time being, repatriation operations are not addressing this need to bear witness, to relate what happened “over there”.

Refugees and clandestine immigration

In this context, the declarations by French authorities and other European countries linking the Arab revolutions with a possible wave of clandestine immigration submerging Europe are shocking and intolerable.

First of all, they simply do not reflect the reality of the situation.

As things stand, those fleeing Libya are foreign nationals, labourers with few means, who are just trying to escape the war and the violence and discrimination they were subjected to. They are just looking to go home, now that they’ve lost practically everything.

Secondly, these declarations by our governments ignore another, much harsher reality. In conflict situations, the right to flee exists, and is recognised by international law, so people are entitled to seek refuge across the borders of a country consumed by violence. This right is crucial as the attacks against civilians in many Libyan towns are confirmed, with random bombing and no means of reaching them with assistance. The work of relief organisations is hampered; their medical mandate accorded no respect.

At this point, only a few thousand Libyans have left their country, and have received a sympathetic welcome in Egypt in particular. But if the violence continues, and aid cannot be channelled to the people, it is likely that more will attempt to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. If so, we should provide them with assistance as refugees; we should certainly not treat them as clandestine.

The situation of the many fleeing foreign nationals who cannot return to war-ravaged countries (Somalia, or the Côte d’Ivoire, for example) also needs consideration. They are calling for refugee status and United Nations protection.

One last point: the declarations of our European leaders are, from Cairo’s or Tunisia’s point of view, an insult to the revolutions unfolding to the South of the Mediterranean, to this wind of freedom and change blowing through Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. They show incomprehension, contempt even, for the young people who have taken their destiny in hand, refusing further oppression from corrupt and aging regimes. Do we really think that they’re looking to leave their countries now, when they’re in the process of re-writing history? A quick visit to Tahir Square, and the answer is clear.

The electoral European agendas have gained the upper hand over any rational analysis of the facts. This is deeply shocking, and a far cry from the reality in the field, where protection and assistance are needed for people fleeing oppression and fighting for their freedom.

Pierre Salignon - General Director Doctors of the World International