Refugees in Libya: “They are killing us with machetes”

“They are killing us with knives and machetes”. This is the SOS text message that the president of Habeshia (Agency for Cooperation and Development), Mosie Zerai, received on his cell phone; it was sent to him by a group of refugees in Libya.
“These people are originally from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia…and they are crying out for help. I keep receiving text messages describing the massacres”, the clergyman explains, “Libyans go to the houses of immigrants who are mistaken as mercenaries of the regime. Dozens of these youths have been sent back at the border by Italian authorities and that is why they ended up in Libya. Others are dying in Libyan prisons, like Mishtarah, which are now under fire, and they need help! Europe and Italy could offer them help by including them in their evacuation plan, which is already being carried out as I speak.” The priest goes on to make a heartfelt appeal: “We ask that Italy take action to save these innocent lives; and that they take into consideration the possibility of giving them (temporary) shelter in the Italian Embassy in Lybia.”

Source: Italian newspaper La Repubblica, live blog:
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2011/02/22/dirette/libia_22_febbraio-12751095/

1 02.22.11
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