More than 1,000 Sudanese stranded in eastern Libya

More than thousand Sudanese are stranded in the area of Brega in eastern Libya. They are facing dire humanitarian conditions, owing to the heavy fighting in the country, and their inability to travel to Sudan. Speaking to Radio Dabanga on Monday, one of the stranded Sudanese reported that about thousand Sudanese employees of Libyan companies have sought refuge in a yard in the area of Brega. “The situation is catastrophic. We want to return to Sudan but all the roads are blocked because of the clashes between government troops, militias, and Islamist groups. In addition, people who left the yard have been prone to armed robberies.” No danger In a press conference on Sunday, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Karti, denied the existence of any danger for the Sudanese community in Libya. The Minister described the shelling of houses in the Karimiya district in Tripoli, where dozens of Sudanese were killed last week as “unintentional”. He stressed that the situation in Libya has not reached the stage that Sudanese nationals must be evacuated. Fighting between rival militias in Tripoli has forced the closure of the capital’s international airport, where some 600 Sudanese are currently trapped. The UN and most embassies evacuated their staff throughout July citing security concerns. Last week, many countries ordered their citizens to leave and, in some cases, evacuated them. File photo: Sudanese leaving Libya by boat, March 2014 (UNHCR) Related:600 Sudanese marooned at Libyan airport (4 August 2014) Sudanese killed by missiles in Tripoli, Libya (29 July 2014)