How can a country at war, with hospitals and operating rooms full of gunshot wound, be able to care for, rescue and treat patients with COVID-19?
In Libya this is a question that inspires fear and inhibits any response. The ongoing conflict, which began 14 months ago (April 3, 2019) with the advance of General Khalīfa Belqāsim Ḥaftar against the government of Al-Sarraj, has reached unprecedented levels of escalation in recent weeks. Haftar is losing ground and the GNA (Government of National Accord) response has further intensified in the suburbs of Tripoli, launching more and more attacks to retake previously lost territories.
To the west, the army of Fayez Al-Sarraj advances, gradually approaching the border with Tunisia. After regaining the fields of Yarmouk, al Sawarikh and Hamza south of Tripoli, an area disputed between the two factions in the field, a next target could be that of Tarhuna, the main operational center of the Haftar army in the west of the country.
In the last weeks of May, migrants on Libyan territory also risked their lives because of the ongoing conflict. Among the latest episodes, a real massacre took place inside a warehouse where internally displaced people live in the town of Mezda, a few kilometers from the city of Gharyan, south of Tripoli, at the time of the shooting, there were about 200 migrants.
In Libya refugees and migrants often have protection problems resulting from serious human rights violations and abuses by state and non-state actors, they are people with irregular status and this, even in the absence of internal support networks, facilitates the many crimes committed against them. They are foreign citizens victims of racism and xenophobia, and victims of policies related to the control of migratory flows towards Europe.
“The COVID-19 danger does not seem to have exploded at the moment, with almost 200 confirmed cases and 5 deaths, the numbers seem to be contained,” says Pietro De Nicolai, head of INTERSOS Libya mission, “This however is not indicative of a stable reality where you can operate even on a humanitarian level. The risk of contagion is higher than ever in a country where the population has been living with the conflict for too long and prevention measures are overshadowed by the fear of an immediate bombing“. In the past week, 80 new infections have been detected in Sebah alone, a third of the total number.
It is estimated that nearly 1 million people, including around hundreds of children, need humanitarian assistance in Libya due to persistent political instability, conflict and insecurity, as result of non-existence of the rule of law, the deterioration of the public sector and an unstable economy. We are talking about people with lives of all kinds, as internally displaced persons, returnees, Libyan citizens as well as refugees and migrants.
INTERSOS activities, which began in April 2019, have undergone a sharp slowdown due to three distinct but complementary factors:
– security, as a consequence of the ongoing conflict
– the Ramadan period – now over – but which has affected the decrease in the level of field activity
– restrictions imposed as a prevention of the risk of COVID-19 spreading (a curfew that can reach 24 hours a day for 10 days in the Sebah area and 12 hours in Tripoli), an element that has a strong impact on the ability to move in the Libyan territory.
“Despite the war, the COVID-19 and the difficulties of moving around the area, we have never stopped being there and carrying on our activities in Tripoli,” says Pietro, “In response to the impossibility of keeping the “Baity” center open, which welcomes Libyan children and migrants, we have started a project of distance lessons with the boys and girls who have taken part in the training and creativity courses of the center for months. It was and it is necessary to continue what we started together, especially in a historical moment like this”.
In addition to French, English, mathematics and other subjects lessons, INTERSOS has launched online psycho-social support initiatives for some specific cases. These are minors who have a complex life behind them and too heavy for their young age, who need support and above all protection. In addition to distance learning, the distribution of school materials for minors in the “Baity” center in Tripoli also continues, and also the construction of the second center located in the rural town of Shebah where the curfew has been strengthened and the opening of schools could be delayed.
INTERSOS is verifying with the authorities the possible consequences on the reopening of the “Baity” center in Tripoli and, if necessary, will proceed with the continuation of the remote work as has been carried out so far. Despite everything, despite the war.