May 11th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan nationals stranded in Libya who planned to cross to Europe have appealed for help as the situation continues to worsen for them in the Northern African country.
Since the fall of the long-time Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, in 2011 the country has remained in chaos and has since became the main gateway for African migrants fleeing violence in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and some West African countries.
Speaking to the Nyamilepedia on phone from the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday, several South Sudanese said they have been facing problems because they are not protected by the government based there as they don’t have their embassy that help in procedures for obtaining residency permit.
“We are trapped in Libya, we cannot obtain legal residency permit because we don’t have out embassy here and the documents issued by the UNHCR and other refugee agencies don’t protects from detention by the Libyan authorities in Tripoli,” one South Sudanese national told the Nyamilepedia on from Tripoli on Friday.
Another South Sudanese said the government in Tripoli do not protect them saying they are usually attacked in their homes by armed criminals and sometimes in the streets in the watchful eye of the government and they could not be protected.
“We are always attacked. They (criminals) come to the apartment and loot the house and sometimes in the street and the government can do nothing,” he said.
The same person called on the UNHCR to pressure the Libyan authorities in the west so that they are protected or be relocated to a safer country because they cannot return to South Sudan given the situation there.
“We want the UNHCR to make pressure against the government in Tripoli so that they provide protection to us or look for a third country because we cannot return tour country given the situation that the UNHCR itself knows,” he added.
