Islamic Relief head of mission, Moaathe Enayet, in Libya has made his way to Tripoli to carry out a rapid needs assessment so that Islamic Relief can target the most vulnerable in the Tripoli.
Moaathe Enayet left Tunisia and travelled into Libya. He made the difficult journey through the Nafusa Mountains and arrived in Tripoli yesterday.
“We are already seeing people queuing for bread and water, which shows us that there is a major need for these basic needs,” said Moaathe
Head of mission Moaathe decided to make the journey into the city when the events began to change and fighting intensified. Whilst on our way Moaathe received news that an Islamic Relief worker was injured when a sniper opened fire; Mahmood was monitoring events when he was injured. This effected the rapid needs assessment because one of Islamic Relief’s staff members had been injured.
“We are a humanitarian organisation and need to work in these areas, I accept and have decided to take the risk,” said Moaathe whilst standing in Tripoli as gun fire could be heard ringing out across Tripoli.
There are checkpoints on every street, sometimes there are several on the same street. Young boys guard their neighbour hoods carrying automatic weapons.
We stopped at many checkpoints and when the guards came over to talk to us they inadvertently pointed guns at our heads.
“After it happens for the tenth time, you become used to it and just hope that the gun does not go off,” said Moaathe with a smile.
There are still celebrations taking place in the newly termed revolutionary square. Bullet shells litter the square as well as the surrounding streets. People wave flags from their cars but there is an eerie silence from some quarters. We drove through some areas of Tripoli that seem deserted. No one could be seen to be out on the streets except the young boys who manned the checkpoints.
For the rebels part, we found them to be polite and helpful. From Zintan to Zawiya, at every checkpoint, we were met with the same phrases “Ay hajah? Ay Khidmah?” meaning “is there any need you have, is there anything we can do for you?” The rebels smiled and were pleasant and genuinely wanted to help us. There seems to be a mood of euphoria that has taken hold in the areas we have visited. Tripoli seems to have the same mood but the entire city is still not under rebel control and the basic humanitarian needs of the people are not being met during the fighting that is taking place.
“We are sending two trucks of supplies to Tripoli, they should arrive soon,” says Moaathe as he lies on the grass outside a hotel. All the hotels in Tripoli are either fully booked or closed. We could not find anywhere to stay so we rested outside on the green grass that decorates the front of one of the hotel as journalists could be seen performing live broadcasts from their balconies.
The head of the military council, Abdul Hakim Haj gave a press conference in Tripoli. Muath was present and asked about the humanitarian needs of the people and informed them that Islamic Relief is willing and preparing to help and asked if the routes are now safe for humanitarian aid to get through. Abdul Hakim accepted that there is a an urgent humanitarian need and welcomed Islamic Relief’s support.
At 3am Moaathe received a call from Islamic Relief staff back in Tunisia to say that they had managed to contact someone inside Tripoli to arrange accommodation. We got to sleep very late and exhausted. It has been a very long day. We started at 5am and are still going twenty hours later. There are major communications problems and constant power cuts. Most journalists are communicating using satellite phones.
In the morning Moaathe will be visiting hospitals to assess the medical needs and will be immediately informing the Islamic Relief staff in Tunisia so that the goods can be sent.
Outside of Tripoli Islamic Relief has been working hard to distribute food packs to affected areas. Zawiyah, Nalut, Ghoryan, Zintan, Jadu, Yefren and Zuwarah have either already received emergency relief or it is on the way, by the end of this week Islamic Relief have distributed food to over 90,000 people.