Three Oromo refugeess among Survivors of Libyan boat tragedy

UNHCR (press release)

CHOUCHA CAMP, Tunisia, May 13 (UNHCR) – Bayisa* has suffered a lot in his short life, but nothing prepared him and his two friends, Gudissa* and Nagassa,* for the ordeal the three Ethiopian refugees faced, and barely survived, on the high seas between Libya and Italy.

During or after their failed attempt to reach Italy by boat, 63 of the 72 people on board died agonizing deaths while passing vessels and helicopters allegedly failed to stop and rescue the boat people. And Bayisa is now back in North Africa.

The ethnic Oromo, gaunt-faced and extremely thin, spoke with his two friends to UNHCR on Thursday in the Choucha Camp that was set up near Tunisia's border with Libya to provide shelter for tens of thousands of migrant workers and refugees fleeing the civil war that erupted in Libya in mid-February.

Although the Oromo are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, they have suffered persecution at the hands of successive governments for decades. Bayisa said he fled to Sudan after his village was torched in 2007 by police, who accused his family of shepherds of helping anti-government rebels....read more

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