MAY 23/2007

THE TERRIBLE PLIGHT OF ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN LIBYA

The statistics is staggering: more than 163 Ethiopian refugees have died in the last seven years, 112 Ethiopian women have been raped by the Libyan police and security forces and hundreds are suffering in subhuman cinditions in the desert prison of Koufra/Coufra. The jailed refugees are not fed properly, are beaten regularly by the wardens, the women are raped, there is practically no health care and dozens have become insane from their horrible condition of detention.

 Kufra lies in  the middle of the Sahara, in south eastern Libya, and it is surrounded by depressions and is a hostile environment only known for the second World War battle waged there. Koufra is where Ethiopian refugees who make their way to Libya to find passage to Italy are imprisoned. The brutality of the Libyan authorities knows no limits. International bodies who had tried to visit the detention center have been met by cowed and threatened prisoners who could not expose their deplorable condition.One Ethiopian refugee who dared to do was given no protection and when the delegates left he was beaten so badly by the Libyan police that he is now paralyzed. The refugees are sometimes "sold" to the middle men for a price and if they can pay the required US$ 1300 for a trip across the sea to Italy. Presently, hundreds of Ethiopian refugees are jailed in Koufra suffering under the intense heat, exposed to police brutality, uncared for, desperate and hungry.

SOCEPP has time and again sent its protests to the Libyan government but has yet to receive any reply. SOCEPP calls on Ethiopians everywhere to take up the cause of their kin and to lodge their protest atht nearest Libyan consul or embassy.The UNHCR should also be asked to vigorously take up the case of the Ethiopian refugees in Koufra so that their suffering and misery can end as soon as possible.

SOCEPP