March 9, 2011- U.S. officials today praised Islamic Relief’s work of camp management after visiting a refugee camp near the Libyan border in Tunisia.
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz and Assistant Administrator of USAID Nancy Lindborg, along with the United States Ambassador to Tunisia Gordon Gray– met with IR USA VP of Programs Adnan Ansari at a camp housing 15,000 refugees near the Tunisia-Libya border. The delegation members said the conditions were good, and they had high praise for the response to the Libya humanitarian crisis.
Islamic Relief is supporting UNHCR in managing the camp. Islamic Relief has been helping in directing the flow of refugees at the camp, pitching and organizing the tents, providing water and sanitation facilities in addition to distributing food to the refugees as they cross the border.
“We’re trying to make the refugees’ lives as comfortable as possible,” Ansari said. “We’re trying to bring order to all the chaos.”
The delegation also surveyed the camp’s facilities. Ansari introduced the officials to some of Islamic Relief’s beneficiaries, including refugees resting in their transitional shelters and others standing in the food distribution line. Later that afternoon, Islamic Relief joined other NGOs and met with the officials to discuss contingency plans in case more refugees cross the border.
Islamic Relief is currently working to facilitate the repatriation of as many refugees as possible and is preparing for a potential humanitarian intervention inside Libya.
For more information about Islamic Relief’s response, click here.
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