Islamic Relief has taken over the running of the UNHCR Refugee camp inside Tripoli. The agreement was finalised between Islamic Relief and UNHCR earlier this week.
Head of Mission in Libya, Moaathe Enayet, said “We have good experience in running camps in Tunisia and a very good working relationship with UNHCR.”
The Islamic Relief team visited the camp in Tripoli to talk with the residents and listen to their stories.
Mahmood Abdul Razak is 19-years-old and left Somalia to find a better life in Europe. Along with 58 other Somalis they tried travelling through Libya to try and get to Italy, but were caught by rebel forces.
“I want a good life, I don’t want to go back to Somalia,” he told Islamic Relief staff.
Mahmood’s father was killed in Somalia as a result of the current conflict. Mahmood was trying to get to Italy so he could find a better life and therefore provide for his family back in Mogadishu.
Ismail Mohyideen shares a similar story. The sixteen-year-old sits on a chair in the camp that was formerly the residence for Chinese workers working on the railway. He looks at a book that was left behind in the rush to escape Tripoli. Ismail is looking at images of Europe, images of a better life. Ismail’s father has made this hazardous journey with him.
“I wanted my son to have a better life,”says Mohyideen, the fifty-year-old puts his hand on Ismail’s shoulder to comfort his son.
Inside the compound there are three to four people per room. From the fifty eight Somalis seven are women and there is one child.
Ilhan Hasan Ali, is 23 and managed to escape the difficult life in Mogadishu. Her husband is still in Somalia, he ran away when the militant group Al Shabaab asked him to join them.
“They beat me whilst I was pregnant and my daughter was then born paralysed,” she tells me.
Ilhan left her daughter with her sister and mother, hoping to get them out of Somalia once she reached Europe. She is now stuck in this refugee camp. European countries are reluctant to take on refugees with the issue of immigration playing a major role in politics; politicians dare not accept refugees at this point in time for fear of losing votes.
Four-year-old Raisa sleeps in her bed. Her parents dared to make this dangerous trip across, Ethiopia, Sudan and then Libya. They have been on the road since May.
“I did it for her,” says Abdullah her father, “I wanted her to have a good life, away from conflict and famine,” he adds. I can see tears in his eyes. Hopes of getting to Europe have been crushed for these people, they do not know what will happen to them.
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For now they are in relative comfort; there is shelter, food and water, the only thing that is lacking is the security of certainty about the future. These people have risked everything to leave their war and drought ridden country of Somalia.