Libyas Western Mountains refugees tell of heavy bombardment by regime

26 April 2011

DEHIBA-WAZIN BORDER CROSSING, Libya: Refugees fleeing Libyas Western Mountains told of heavy bombardment by Moammar Gadhafis forces as they try to dislodge rebels clinging to a precarious hold in remote Berber towns.

The capture of the Dehiba-Wazin border crossing by rebels last week has let refugees flee in cars, as well as on foot along rocky paths, swelling the numbers sheltering in southern Tunisia to an estimated 30,000 people.

While attention has been on the bloody siege of the western rebel stronghold of Misrata and battles further east, fighting is intensifying in the Western Mountains region.

Our town is under constant bombardment by Gadhafis troops. They are using all means. Everyone is fleeing, said one refugee, Imad, bringing his family from Kalaa in the heart of the mountains.

With desert on both sides, the mountain range stretches west for over 150 kilometers from south of Tripoli to Tunisia, inhabited by Berbers who are ethnically distinct from most Libyans and long viewed with suspicion by the Libyan government.

The Western Mountains towns joined a wider revolt against Gadhafis autocratic rule in February.

Refugees escaping towns such as Zintan, where at least three people were killed by shelling Sunday, and Yafran, where the two sides have been fighting for control, told of barrages of rocket fire and tank rounds.

Fire like we saw yesterday must have killed dozens, said one man who had escaped from Yafran, one of the biggest towns in the mountains, about 120 kilometers southwest of Tripoli. He had not seen any victims himself before he fled.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates around 30,000 Libyans have fled to southern Tunisia since early this month, some being cared for in camps, but most finding hospitality wherever they can in private homes and community halls.

With another 1,500 or so arriving every day, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is trying to triple the size of a camp already housing nearly 3,000 people.

They say they are fleeing shelling, violence, fighting between opposition forces and government forces. People were first crossing through the mountains, now they are taking the official route, said Firas Kiyal of the UNHCR.

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.