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Water shortages, high prices force thousands of Libyans to cross into Tunisia

05 September 2011 22:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The main Tunisian-Libyan border post of Ras El Jedir has witnessed an average of 9,000 Libyans crossing into Tunisia each day, the official press agency TAP reported on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Since the end of the month of Ramadan and despite the fall of the Libyan capital Tripoli into the hands of the rebels, an increasing number of Libyan families are fleeing into Tunisia.

A lack of basic consumer products, water shortage, high prices and apprehension of the transitional period and its consequences, are often quoted as the main reason for this unexpected exodus, TAP said.

At the peak of the conflict in Libya, an average of 7,000 Libyans crossed into the country each day.

Meanwhile goods traffic has not resumed to its normal level and is limited to exports of Tunisian products into Libya. Formalities on the Libyan side of the border are still carried out manually in the absence of a computer system, TAP reported.

Even if the majority of the families living in camps in southern Tunisia has returned to their home country, tens of thousands of Libyans are still living in the Tunisian capital and in major coastal towns.