Libya repatriation is straining aid agencies

Repatriating thousands of stranded migrant workers who fled fighting in Libya is straining the resources of international aid agencies, officials said Friday, calling for more help.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, meanwhile, appointed three experts to a panel investigating alleged abuses in Libya since the start of the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime last month. More than 250,000 people, most of them migrant workers, have fled Libya since the start of the revolt on Feb. 15, U.N. officials said, adding that so far there is no sign that Libyans are leaving their homeland. Still, about 6,000 people — most of them foreign laborers — cross into Tunisia to the west and Egypt to the east every day.

Aid workers are scrambling to secure enough planes and ships to repatriate them, despite contributions from Europe, the U.S. and others. European officials have called on all nations to help. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at an EU summit on Libya in Brussels on Friday that the bloc was preparing to send more aircraft and ships to help handle the exodus.

The repatriation of laborers from Bangladesh is particularly difficult because of the higher cost of long-distance flights. Some governments have arranged for the return of their workers, but Bangladesh is not among them. “If the majority continue to be Bangladeshis needing long-haul charter flights to get home, the cost to repatriate them will far exceed our current resources,” said Mohammed Abdiker, operations director of the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental group.

The migration organization and the U.N. say they need about 70 long-haul flights to Bangladesh and other Asian and sub-Saharan African destinations.

The slow pace of evacuations has set tempers on edge at a Tunisian transit camp for migrant workers. Thousands have found shelter in more than 2,300 tents at the camp, about four miles from the Libyan border.

The number of people in the camp fluctuates between 15,000 and 17,000, officials said. Stranded workers complained Friday that there is not enough food and that they have to wait in long lines for small meals.

Several organizations, including the World Food Program and volunteer groups, have set up food distribution points in the camp. In addition, ordinary Tunisians drive to the camp and distribute donated food.

On Friday, dozens rushed to a van loaded with 1,000 loaves of French bread as it drove into the camp. Those who succeeded to grab a few loaves triumphantly held them in the air as they walked away. Several days earlier, large sacks packed with bread awaiting distribution had been left undisturbed — a sign that there is now growing demand for food.

Aid officials said that the camp remains manageable with a daily influx of between 2,000 and 3,000 arrivals. However, they said a backlog is gradually building up because fewer people are being repatriated than are arriving at the camp.