The European Commission yesterday trebled emergency funds to help ease the humanitarian crisis developing on the Libyan borders with Egypt and Tunisia as Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva flew to the area to personally oversee the EU operation.

Speaking after a meeting of EU commissioners yesterday, Commission president Josè Manuel Barroso announced the allocation of €10 million in EU emergency funds to help set up tents to provide food, temporary shelter and medical aid to thousands of refugees escaping Libya through the Tunisian and Egyptian borders. Mr Barroso said about 140,000 refugees were now amassed on these borders and the EU wants to help in this humanitarian crisis.

He left no doubt on how the EU was viewing Col Gaddafi’s future. “The completely unacceptable actions of the Libyan regime over the last weeks have made it painfully clear Col Gaddafi is part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Mr Barroso said.

“It is time for him to go and give the country back to the people of Libya, allowing democratic forces to chart out a future course. The situation we are seeing in Libya is simply outrageous. We cannot accept this,” he insisted.

Addressing himself at the Libyan people, Mr Barroso said the EU was behind their plight and would do all it could to support them achieve their wishes.

“From Brussels, I want to specifically say this to the young Arabs that are now fighting for freedom and democracy. We are on your side. We remember our own experiences in Europe when we were fighting for democracy – in southern Europe, in central and eastern Europe, where some were saying the fight for democracy will not be successful. Now some are saying the same about the Arab world – that Arabs are not ‘fit’ for democracy. I believe Arabs are ‘fit’ for democracy and we are on their side,” Mr Barroso said.

EU member states are also stepping in to help ease the humanitarian crisis. France will send heavy-lift planes and a ship to secure an air and sea bridge with which to ferry 5,000 Egyptian refugees home within a week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced an airlift to bring migrant Egyptians home from the Tunisian border area, with the first flight scheduled to leave for North Africa today. Italy yesterday also decided to build a refugee camp on the Tunisian border with Libya to host about 10,000 refugees.

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