EU must take in Libya – Tunisia refugees, says Buzek
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
31.10.2011 08:14
President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, has said that he will appeal for EU nations take in some of the refugees currently stranded in the Shusha and Al-Hayat camps on the Libya – Tunisia border.
Buzek with Libya's NTC president Mustafa Abdul Jalil; photo - EPA
“It is most important to move these people to somewhere permanent,” Buzek, a former prime minister of Poland, said after a visit to the camps over the weekend.
The camps, run by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were created shortly after the outbreak of the uprising in neighbouring Libya seven months ago.
Approximately 250,000 refugees have already passed through the camps, leaving around 3,500 people, mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, stranded.
The atmosphere within the camps has been described as being “tense”, with an uprising breaking out in May over the conditions the people are being forced to live in there.
Norway has agreed to take in some 400 people and the US 2,500. (pg)