80 thousand Libyan refugees face suffering in Cairo

Libyan refugees in Cairo have stated that they are facing a number of problems regarding medical treatment, living expenses and accommodation, as they have been abandoned by the Libyan consulate. The consulate has charged that they have betrayed their country and leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan National Transitional Council is trying to cover refugees expenses and medical bills, especially those who are in an extremely bad state. Thousands of Libyan refugees enter Egypt everyday as they escape from Gaddafi and his battalion. They are seeking refuge in Cairo and Alexandria until the end of the Libyan crisis and the Gaddafi regime. ArabsToday spoke to a number of refugees in Egypt, as well as anti-Gaddafi activists. Omar Shahdan was injured during the fighting in Libya. He told of his suffering in Alexandria, saying: “I suffered a deep injury to my right foot in the middle of battle on April 29th, as I was fighting Gaddafi’s brigades from nearby Misrata. I was then taken to hospital in the same area for a week, but had to check out due to the lack of resources. I was checked into a private hospital in Cairo where expenses were covered by the Transitional Council. The doctors amputated my leg, and I currently reside with my brother in Alexandria.” Another Libyan, who suffered injuries is Maher, Naser Alsanoosi, is currently in a state hospital. He pressed, “We suffer from a lack of medicine and care here. They treat us in a strangely. One doctor will tell me I need an operation and another on the same team would disagree. I don’t know why that is happening. Things here are very different to what happens in private hospitals.” As for accommodation and living expenses Alsanoosi said that he does not suffer in those areas as much as he does with his medical problems at this hospital. Dr. Adel Saad, an activist who is interested in Libyan issues said, “There are now an estimated 80 thousand Libyan refugees in Egypt, the majority of them in Cairo and Alexandria, who fled the ongoing conflict in Libya last February. The Egyptians authorities have no objection to hosting those refugees.” “The majority of the refugees, especially the injured ones, suffer from a lack of medication and care, especially the state ones. Private hospitals provide much better care but cost a lot of money, which many refugees cannot cover, after the Libyan consulate, and the Libyan Ambassador in Egypt Faraj Al-Oraibi, abandoned them. Saad pointed out that a huge number of the Libyan refugees in Egypt decided to reside there despite the fact that they come from Libyan cities where the situation is stable and falls completely under the rule of the Libyan Transitional National Council. Some of those cities include Banghazi, Ajdabiya, Bisha and Darnah, among others. This situation puts a burden on the Egyptian government, especially as it has issues of its own at the moment. He believes that the return of refugees back to Libya would strengthen and embolden the National Transitional Council against the Gaddafi regime, whereas fleeing weakens the NTC.