Libya: Makeshift desert camp has no water and no electricity. But they feel safer here

Published on Sunday 3 April 2011 20:35

"We are your neighbours, but it is 20 years since your revolution and still we have no roads, not water, no electricity," Marez told Colonel Gaddafi when he visited her home in 1989.

Back then, the Libyan leader listened, giving the remote village of Swahat in the eastern Libyan desert all that they needed.

Now, Marez, 85, is again living in dire conditions. Sitting on the floor of the tent that has become her home, she explains how her entire village has fled in fear of the Gaddafi regime.

"We came to this tent because of him. Everything was normal, but he came with the military and started killing. He came to the village and brought his dogs."

In the dip of a sand dune, far into the desert, the families of Swahat have built their own secret refugee camp. Children play among the 15 tents, as the women struggle to feed everyone on limited supplies. "Just potatoes today," says Hala, 24, as she boils them on the small wood fire.

For more than 40 days, up to 250 people have lived in this desert camp. They live without electricity or running water, and fuel supplies are low. A few days ago, a woman gave birth in the tent with only her grandmother to help.

The elderly men sit in the tents made of patchwork quilts, faded carpets and wooden poles. "My uncle carries the water to us in his small tank, but diesel is running low," says Sheikh Mohammed Arege, 67.

"We haven't received pension for three months," says Regavi, 70. "What we need is weapons. If Gaddafi comes here, we cannot defend ourselves."

Less than 50km away, the war between Gaddafi loyalist troops and rebel forces rages on. Even here, far from the central road, rockets have flown overhead. One lies unexploded dangerously close to the camp.

"I want to join the fighters. What is the point of living like this?" asks Ahmed Ibadullah, 17. "I would rather die fighting."

The villagers are terrified of Gaddafi's revenge should he return to the area. The bullet-riddled door of the water pump house at the village tells of the loyalists' last visit. "They destroyed the water pump and took the pump wheel. We have no water supply," Regavi says.

Despite the hardship, the fear of returning to their village, closer to the town of Ajdabiya, is too great. "We will not leave until Gaddafi goes," he adds.