The EU yesterday pumped in yet more money to ease the humanitarian crisis rapidly developing on the Libyan borders with Tunisia and Egypt, trebling its contribution for a second time to €30 million.
The bloc’s original allocation had been €3 million, which it then upped to €10 million.
At the same time, the EU’s Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton called an extraordinary meeting of EU Foreign Ministers for next Wednesday in Brussels in order to coordinate the EU’s response to the Libyan crisis prior to an EU summit to be held a day later.
Visiting the Libyan-Tunisian border yesterday, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva called on EU member states to step up their efforts to provide urgent relief to the stranded refugees and to facilitate their passage home.
The UK, France and Germany have already sent planes to fly back home thousands of Egyptians escaping the turmoil through the Tunisian border.
“The unleashing of violence in Libya has triggered a major humanitarian crisis at Europe’s doorstep. Europe’s values and interests command us to act decisively and this is what we are doing,” Commissioner Georgieva said.
Europe has mobilised itself not only to evacuate EU citizens in a coordinated and speedy manner but also to address the dire needs of suffering people, whether refugees fleeing Libya or those trapped by conflict inside the country. According to the refugee agency, 9,000 people, most of them Egyptians, crossed into Tunisia yesterday. In all, up to 95,000 people have entered Tunisia from Libya since the violence began and 83,000 have entered Egypt.
The Egyptian consulate in Tunis said that of the 43,600 Egyptians who had fled to Tunisia, 32,000 have returned or are in the process of returning. Yesterday, 27 planes carried refugees from Tunisia to Egypt.
The Commission said that in addition to supporting the evacuations, part of the European funding will be used to cater for the most urgent needs of people crossing the Libyan borders like tents and food, blankets and medical aid.
Relief operations are being implemented and coordinated with the European Commission’s humanitarian partners that are already working on the Libyan borders. These include UNHCR, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.