Hosting In Libya

Qatar to help Tunisians sheltering Libyans

DOHA: Thousands of Libyan refugees who have crossed into Tunisia and are being given shelter by Tunisian families will be getting a hand of support from Qatar.

The Qatar Charity has launched a humanitarian campaign to provide support to the Tunisian families who have been hosting the displaced Libyan families so that the latter can be looked after in a better manner.

The campaign seeks to strengthen the bond of brotherhood and solidarity between three sides — the displaced Libyan families, the Tunisian families hosting them and the families in Qatar who would be keen to support the other two sides, Abdulla Al Naima, deputy chairman and managing director of Qatar Charity, said yesterday.

“This is not a sponsorship programme in which Qatari families would sponsor Libyan families. The idea is to raise the capacity of the Tunisian families who have been providing shelter to the displaced Libyan families in their homes,” said Al Naima, addressing a press conference yesterday.

165,000 Libyans have fled to Tunisia since the beginning of the turmoil in Libya and the influx is still continuing. About 1,000 to 1,500 Libyans enter Tunisia daily.

“Only a small portion of Libyan refugees in Tunisia is staying in refugee camps. Majority of them are hosted by Tunisian families, who are not rich enough to support them. There are about 50,000 displaced Libyans in a place called Tataween who have been staying with Tunisian families. The objective of our campaign is to support these families so that the Libyans will benefit from that,” Mohammed Aderdor, relief and emergency manager of Qatar Charity told The Peninsula.

“The strong cultural and religious bond between the Libyans and Tunisians has been reflected in this gesture of solidarity,”he added.

Asked about non-Libyan refugees seeking shelter in Tunisia, he said their numbers had dwindled since most of them have already been repatriated to the countries of origin.

Qatar Charity aims to raise QR2m from philanthropists in Qatar in the first phase of the campaign. This money will be used to provide food and other kinds of support to the Libyan as well as the Tunisian families.

Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » White House to Host Libyan Rebels ...

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril was headed for the White House on Friday to press for US recognition, as the prospect loomed of strongman Moamer Kadhafi being charged with war crimes.

Jibril’s campaign, buoyed by a British invitation for rebels to open their first office abroad and by the breaking of the siege of Misrata, came as Italy said the Libyan regime was disintegrating and that Kadhafi might be on the run.

Meanwhile, Libyan state TV said at least 16 “civilians” were killed and dozens wounded in a NATO air strike late Thursday on Brega, to the east of the capital.

Jibril, who handles foreign affairs for the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC), was to hold talks with US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon.

Officials would not say whether President Barack Obama would drop by the meeting, a practice sometimes used with guests for whom protocol does not dictate an official meeting.

Asked by CNN television what he expected from Friday’s talks, Jibril replied: “We need the recognition.”

The Libyan opposition, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, wants Washington to recognise the body as “the sole legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people,” he said.

Unlike France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar, the United States has not recognised the NTC. Jibril told CNN he believed Jordan would also recognise the opposition in the coming days.

“All we need is for the world to understand our cause and help us get our legitimate rights realised,” he said.

But White House spokesman Jay Carney signalled that Washington was not ready to grant full status to the NTC.

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‘Is al-Qaeda in Libya?

Moammar Gadhafi has frequently claimed the uprising against him is led by al-Qaeda.

Over the past few decades, Islamists have had more support in eastern Libya than in the western part of the country, but experts say there is no evidence of Gadhafi’s assertion.

U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, a top NATO commander, testified before the U.S. Senate armed services committee on March 29 that he does not “have detail sufficient to say there is a significant al-Qaeda presence or any other terrorist presence” in Libya. There are only “flickers” of an insurgent presence in the intelligence, according to Stavridis.

Libyans did travel to Iraq to participate in the anti-U.S. insurgency a few years ago, U.S. officials reported. Most of them came from what are now rebel strongholds in Benghazi and Derna. In February, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa issued a statement promising to do whatever it could to help the Libyan rebels.

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