Some of those fleeing to Egypt said they left fearing possible bombing of the rebel-held eastern town of Benghazi, said Melissa Fleming, the spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.
Fleming said that the agency was working with Egypt to prepare for a potentially “massive influx of people fleeing the violence in Libya.” “It is also possible that the current conflict could cut off access to safe places and passage out of the country,” she said.
Fleming said that 300,706 people had fled Libya to neighboring countries, including 158,721 to Tunisia and 128,814 to Egypt, as of the middle of this week. Most of the others went into Niger and Algeria.
Fleming said the tides of those crossing the borders out of Libya “remain steady” at about 1,500 to 2,500 people a day.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his agency was worried about the situation in the areas that were recaptured by government troops.
“There is an urgent need to protect civilians in Libya,” Colville said.
“We’re extremely worried about reprisals by pro-government forces and security agents in Libya. No one knows what’s going on in the towns recaptured, and what’s going on in prisons and other state security premises across the country,” he said. “We are very concerned that the government could resort to collective punishment and we have no illusions about what this regime is capable of.” Fleming said 1,490 Libyan nationals had fled to Egypt on Wednesday. “Many mentioned the threats made by the government in recent days to bombard Benghazi,” she said.
A Libyan family from Ajdabiya that crossed into Egypt told UN refugee officials that Libyan radio broadcasts are telling the population they should leave or risk being caught up in combat, and planes are dropping pamphlets encouraging civilians to leave.
With Libya serving as a regional magnet for migrant workers, thousands of African and Asian migrant workers are now rushing to leave, many going home penniless.
China, Turkey, Egypt and others evacuated their workers from Libya by air and sea, but Bangladeshis and many of the Africans who had no outside help were forced into long walks to safety in neighboring countries, mainly Tunisia and Egypt.
International migration officials said Friday that more than 50,000 migrant workers who fled Libya and had been stranded at the border camps in Tunisia and Egypt have now returned home.
“This is one of the biggest humanitarian evacuations in history,” said William Lacy Swing, the International Organization for Migration’s director general.
