Libya: No reports of internal displacement due to conflict

There have been no reports of internal displacement inside Libya due to the ongoing conflict between forces supporting Gaddafi and opposition forces. According to some reports, about 9,000 Libyans have managed to flee the country into Tunisia since the onset of the crisis. However, as the conflict has intensifies concerns have grown that Libyans remaining inside the country are directly affected. The humanitarian needs in Libya are without doubt going to be significant given the destruction and casualties in the coastal cities; but the main challenge will be to cover adequately a country so vast.

UNHCR, WFP, WHO and UNICEF have delivered assistance to the 200,000 foreign workers who have fled Libya and sought shelter in camps in Ras Djir in Tunisia and in Salloum in Egypt. IOM has appealed for an initial $11 million to enable it to provide evacuation and repatriation assistance. WFP has launched an emergency appeal, as reports have indicated that 90 per cent of all food in the country has come from abroad and the majority of those working in the Libyan food industry and agriculture were foreigners who have fled the country.

A further escalation in violence in Libya, as in Yemen and other countries where protest movements are ongoing, has the potential to lead to internal displacement; so far, however, the waves of protests that have spread throughout the Arab world over the course of the last two months do not seem to have done so. Incidentally, most of the protesters' demands echo some of the main concerns expressed by IDPs in the Middle East, namely: lack of employment, lack of food security, and inadequate social services.