Fleeing Conflict
Driving for hours across the bleak Libyan desert in the back of a standard saloon, this Libyan from Ajdabiya hopes to find repose in Egypt. His friends at the wheel, and deeply critical of the Qaddafi regime, are helping him to safety, but adamant that they will soon return to be in their country as the revolution deepens.
Thousands of Libyans have been forced to flee their homes as violent fighting erupts in the town of Ajdabiya, over two hundred kilometres south of Benghazi. Many have fled to the eastern town of Tobruk, but an increasing number are crossing the border to Egypt, either for medical care of for peace.
Mohamed* was shot by “a sniper” during fighting near Ajdabiya; with the town under heavy shelling the hospital there has all but closed down and so he is en-route to Alexandria on the Egyptian coast.
Despite facing its own problems post-referendum, with little governmental organisation, Egypt has virtually opened its borders to fleeing Libyans, allowing them to seek refuge in the country, and with access to medical facilities.
* name changed