Day One: Tunis

And it is the very newness of this country’s government that makes its response to the people fleeing across its eastern border with Libya remarkable. Today was our first and only full day in Tunis, and it was spent in meetings trying to better understand how Tunisia is coping with the recent influx of the tens of thousands of people fleeing the violence in Libya.

And by all accounts, Tunisia’s transitional government has handled its first crisis professionally, and with a great deal of solidarity amongst the Tunisian people. The country’s military is keeping a solid control over the situation at the border. And we’re told stories of local communities in the area providing shelter and food – some 2,000 – 3,000 meals per day.

But in our meeting today with Radhouane Nouicer, Tunisia’s new Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, we are reminded that this is a difficult period for the fragile infrastructure in Tunisia. And this government in transition won’t be able to handle the burden of a large, unemployed population for too long. The international community must continue to pay attention to the problem of those leaving Libya. It is not going away.

If conditions within Libya continue to deteriorate, the world must be prepared for an influx of people seeking protection, because it is too much to ask that this new government bears the burden alone.
     
Dara McLeod is the media relations manager of Refugees International.