Day ten: Tobruk, Libya

Tobruk has so far been spared the violence witnessed in some other eastern Libyan towns, and the welcome we received from the locals there was effusive. As soon as people learned we were an American, a Frenchman, and a Canadian respectively, they thanked us, and even invited us to lunch. As far as the locals that we met were concerned, there are no shades of grey regarding the coalition airstrikes. Everyone we spoke to told us that the coalition’s intervention was keeping them alive.

This was also the sentiment expressed to us when we met with some families recently arrived from Ajdabiya. The town has come under heavy fire from pro-Gaddafi forces, and families have been escaping east to Tobruk. Upon arrival, they are provided with food and shelter by local volunteers – arranged by a committee of the opposition-led National Council.

30-year-old Yousef fled Ajdabiya about ten days ago with his family of six. He left behind his home and business, and is currently living in a school dormitory. The dormitory is being used as a shelter until a temporary home with a local family is found.

Also at the dormitory was 36-year-old Ashraf. He was sporting a cast on his broken left leg – a casualty of the violence during the revolution’s early days. He was taking part in a demonstration when the security forces began driving their cars into the crowd. Ashraf spent a week in the local hospital, scared that his presence there would make him a target for investigation. He told us that same hospital was later shelled.

The people we spoke to today said they will return home if and when it is safe to do so. And the overwhelming impression we have been left with is that Libyans do not want to leave their country. As one man said to us: “People would prefer to die than abandon this place.”

But for Yousef and his family, that is not an option. He told us that should the situation in eastern Libya deteriorate, he will be forced to take his family to Egypt.