By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 27 May 2014:
The fighting in Benghazi has forced the evacuation of three camps housing Tawerghan refugees, who . . .[restrict]have been relocated to two other already-crowded Tawerghan camps elsewhere in the city.
According to the May update of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), their Benghazi office has been working with the Benghazi Local Council and the Tawerghan Local Council to help re-displaced Tawerghan Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Thus far, 550 people from 112 Tawerghan families have once more been displaced, being relocated from the Sidi Fraj, Al Som and Al Bukm camps and re-setted in the already-full Guaryouness and Al Halies camps.
According to the UNHCR, these two camps already held around 4,405 people and had exceeded their maximum capacity. The new arrivals are reportedly sharing plastic pipe-frame shelters with relatives or are using small buildings as shelter. There is an urgent need for more space and emergency tents for these re-displaced families.
Of the estimated 63,985 IDPs in Libya as of 15 May 2014, nearly half are Tawerghans.
Tawargha, which is today a ghost town some 38 kilometres outside of Misrata, was the home of the dark-skinned Tawerghan people until just after the revolution. Accused of supporting Qaddafi during the war, the community was subjected to an ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by the Misrata Brigade.
According to a Human Rights Watch report in November 2013, Tawerghans remained unable to return to their homes because of intimidation and violence by Misrata-led militias. Six months later, the situation has not changed and the Tawerghan community remains in exile. [/restrict]
