UK to help over 10,000 displaced Libyans

02 April 2011

Britain will provide emergency shelter for more than 10,000 people driven out of their homes by ongoing fighting in Libya, the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced today.

As a matter of urgency, 2,100 tents will be flown out from UK stocks in Dubai to provide potentially life saving shelter during cold desert nights. The tents will be distributed by the Libyan Red Crescent to those most in need - including women, children and the sick – particularly around the Ajdabiya area in the conflict-affected North East of Libya.

As well as meeting urgent needs within the country, British aid will help to ensure that conditions at the borders remain under control by extending the work of two air operations experts.

One expert will remain at the Tunisian airport near the Libyan border, while the other will remain at the Geneva headquarters of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). They will both continue to co-ordinate flights getting stranded third country nationals home. This work has helped to prevent a humanitarian crisis from developing on the Libyan borders.

In addition, Britain is providing a humanitarian adviser to join a Turkish/UK/US humanitarian planning team based in Ankara that will help to address emerging and urgent needs in Libya.

Andrew Mitchell, International Development Secretary, said:

"As fighting continues in Libya, we need to ensure that the most vulnerable get the protection they need. That means shelter for those who suddenly find themselves driven out of their homes and often cut off from friends and family in their own country.

"It’s also about ensuring that we continue to provide help to poor migrant workers having to flee Libya, and that we get people in place to look at ongoing needs and how best we can meet them."

This latest British support follows ongoing humanitarian assistance over the last month including:

• Funding for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is providing support for up to 100,000 people for basic necessities, and medical supplies and treatment to 3000 people affected by the ongoing fighting in Libya;
• Helping the Egyptian and Tunisian Red Crescent Societies working at the borders to reconnect families that were separated whilst fleeing from Libya;
• Helping to fly at least 12,500 migrant workers trapped on the borders back to their countries and their families to help avoid a logistical problem becoming a humanitarian crisis;
• Tents for 10,000 people and blankets for 38,000 people stuck at the borders have already been provided;
• Convened thirty seven world leaders in London to discuss Libya's future, which led to the UN's announcement that it would lead and co-ordinate the world's humanitarian response to Libya.

For more information, contact DFID Press Officer Chris Kiggell by email: c-kiggell@dfid.gov.uk, or call 020 7023 0504.