Did the Libyans return to Tawergha?
introduction
In the midst of artillery, missiles, displacement, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, torture, and the loss of family and friends; Most of the Tawergians who lived through difficult years with conflicts, displacement in camps, dispersal, and wars lost their dreams and their future, remembering painful events that cannot be forgotten with time, as the Tawergian memory is still affected by the events of the black decade, in addition to the practices that immortalized this memory in their souls.
The effects of the scars left by a decade are still differentiated in the streets of the city, as they can be seen in the destroyed houses and the crumbling infrastructure, as well as in the burning holes in the walls that were drawn by bullets, shells, fire, and the waste that is thrown into the city to this day, forming an environmental problem.
Painful memory
The evacuation of the camps and finding a complete and radical solution to the situation of the camps and the displaced therein was a necessary and obligatory matter for everyone concerned with the humanitarian situation, especially the Libyan state. However, what was dealt with in the camps for the displaced and the internally displaced (citizens of Tawergha) is like a second forced displacement, especially with the use of force to close these camps without regard for the humanitarian situation and without real alternative solutions.
Forced eviction is “the permanent or temporary removal of persons, their families and/or communities, from the homes and/or lands they occupy, against their will and without the provision of adequate legal or other forms of protection, and without access to protection” (CESCR General Comment No. 7).
The camps of the displaced and internally displaced in Tripoli were subjected to forced eviction, by the security services that follow the Libyan government and with its blessing as well, so that the burden and pressure on the government is reduced internationally regarding this file from a humanitarian point of view first, and because it has another connection to the file of transitional justice and national reconciliation on the other hand, Which, in turn, if the government does not take realistic measures in these files, especially ending the situation of the camps and the internally displaced, this will show the real inability of the Libyan government in managing this issue internationally.
The camps of Tariq al-Matar, al-Falah 1 and 2, and al-Dawa al-Islamiyya are examples of these forced evictions that took place successively, in which cases of human rights were clearly violated, including the destruction of property and the use of weapons and armored vehicles to intimidate and intimidate in order to evacuate, All these scenes brought back to the Tawergians that scene that had passed a full decade, and all the racist practices that the Tarugians suffered from during their displacement outside their city appeared. Rather, it made things worse by the fact that the Libyan state itself is a key player in these violations and its practice of racial discrimination in dealing with the displaced and the internally displaced. On a basis that is not based on citizenship, in light of political deals, lies, and flimsy promises to end this file, without paying attention to the basic needs of the displaced and the internally displaced and listening to their demands regarding justice and reparation.
The way back!
The problem is not the return of about 45 thousand people after their displacement and which lasted for more than 10 years from their homes and their city, but rather the consequences of that displacement and return together, especially concerning the case of reparations and the issue of transitional justice as well as reconstruction, and on the other hand The state of demographic imbalance and its economic and social effects.
In fact, there is nothing to suggest a close return to the demographic situation that it was in before the displacement. After signing the return agreement, as the people of the city call it, between Tawergha and Misrata, some families returned successively to their places of residence that were destroyed by all kinds of weapons, as the number of families returning to Tawergha according to The statistics are about 2,000 families, and there are a large number who have not been able to return so far, due to the destruction of the infrastructure, the poverty of services and living possibilities, the absence of job opportunities, the difficulty of earning a living, and the extent of the destruction of housing units. In addition to the faltering of their return due to political pressures and calculations, all of this makes the chances of restoring the geographical balance of the city to its former state difficult to obtain, which means that the real crisis of the return of the Tawerghans to their city is becoming more complicated, at a time when cities and residential communities are reshaping themselves.
There is no reason to doubt that what is happening in dealing with the issue of the return of Libyans to Tawergha today, by evacuating the camps in this forced way and forcibly integrating them into their places of displacement, is a matter of demographic change by the government, in addition to not including the city in the reconstruction file for the areas affected by the conflict, and the reason Which made many of the people of Tawergha not to think seriously about returning as a result of the reasons I mentioned above.
Marginalization and isolation
In August of the year 2021, the National Unity Government allocated 2.250 billion dinars for the Reconstruction Fund, according to Resolution No. 1300 of 2018, and these allocations were divided into about 750 million dinars for the Reconstruction Fund for South Tripoli and the Jaffara Plain, and 750 million dinars for the Reconstruction Fund for the cities of Benghazi and Derna, And 500 million dinars to the Sirte Reconstruction Fund, and 250 million dinars to the Murzuq Reconstruction Fund.
Also, a few days ago, the esteemed government decided to allocate about $50 million, equivalent to approximately 250 million Libyan dinars, as a first payment for the reconstruction of southern Turkey, after it was exposed to a series of earthquakes that claimed many lives and destroyed their homes and interests.
Today, about 2,000 families live in Tawergha. They have maintained their homes with simple maintenance so that they can live in them. About 120 families are still camping in camp-like gatherings inside the city as a result of their inability to maintain them, or because of the complete destruction of their homes, and with the repressive practices of the Libyan government to forcibly evacuate the camps. It also did not rush to pay attention to the earthquake that occurred in Tawergha, despite its quick response to the earthquake in Turkey, It did not issue a decision to establish a reconstruction fund for the stricken city, and its share of these volatile funds was zero due to reasons that only the government knows, This is a clear indication that points the finger of accusation at the government in the issue of demographic change in the city, which I don't want to go into it. It is also an explicit indication of the racial discrimination practiced by the virtuous Libyan government towards the people of Tawergha by their continued marginalization and isolation from the reconstruction festival and loose funds.
The Libyan proverb says, "Our palm trees are full of dates, but our dates are for others" Today, the citizens of Tawergha are fully aware of how their state deals with their cause, and I am aware that the Libyan government is fully prepared to provide aid, and even to build and harness all the country's capabilities for the reconstruction of other non-Libyan regions at the expense of the Libyans remaining in need, and its citizens must be patient, supplicate and pray.
Today, all Libyans, without exception, must return to Tawergha before Tawergha returns to them if they want to...!!