Libya: Avoiding the Next Tragedy in Libya

analysis

Late on the night of July 2, the Tajoura detention center in Libya was hit by an airstrike, killing at least 60 refugees and migrants held there and injuring many others. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had warned about the dangers for months, calling for the urgent evacuation of vulnerable people trapped in a war zone. Sam Turner, MSF head of mission in Libya, writes about a horrific tragedy that should have been avoided, and who is to blame. A version of this article originally appeared in the British newspaper The Independent.

"When I arrived to Tajoura detention center at 12:45 a.m. [on July 3], it was crammed with ambulances outside. The building that was hit was all but destroyed--the walls crumbled, debris everywhere. In place of the cell, there was just a huge hole. There was no one still alive in that room. I saw bodies everywhere, and body parts sticking out from under the rubble. Blood all around. At some point, I had to stop, I couldn't go further inside the ruins as there were too many dead. I would have to walk over the bodies to proceed... . I knew many of the dead by name, I knew their stories."

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