News Beyond The Crossfire
Due to Show Carriage's long and in depth liaisons with Libya over the years we have many contacts who are still living and surviving with their families under extreme circumstances. Show Carriage has been able to gain an unusual insight into how the ordinary people are scratching out a living whilst the worldwide embargo starts to bite.
For security reasons we cannot name names but this is Libya as it is now from the people that know.
Families in Tripoli are gathering within their homes and staying together. Children do not go to school, mothers and grandmothers do not venture out. Men are not working, and trips from the homestead are fraught with danger as to whether the person who leaves will actually return. Banks are closed, no money is transferring in or out of the country, and communication by mobile or internet is spasmodic. It was not very good when the country was stable. There is no escape for anyone as the embargo gradually takes hold and threads its poisoned tentacles across this vast mass of land.
There are only a couple of reasons to leave the home. One - to gather food which is in short supply. Two - to buy fuel. Most homes still have running water which is a blessing. The latest information we have is of people queuing all night and still being unsuccessful in buying fuel for their vehicles. The irony of a country rich in oil yet unable to fuel its own peoples cars is stark.
Life in Tripoli is strangely quiet with most people staying off the streets. There have not been gun battles or bombings as these have been concentrated to the North of the country, however, daily restriction is a way of life and ordinary people are living in fear of their food running out along with water and fuel and the world sitting by and watching it happen.
Escape from the situation is virtually impossible. Flights in and out of Libya are extremely rare and trying to leave by road requires fuel which is also rare. Border crossings are stringently manned and there is no guarantee of successfully leaving Libya even if one were to purchase enough fuel to get to a border.
These ordinary people are caught up in the terrors of war and conflict. They are real human beings whom we have worked along side for years. They are our partners. They were suppressed by years of dictatorship, but just on the brink of fully embracing the West. The population was growing as the indigenous population recently started returning to the mother land in their droves; only to now be plunged into the depths of a failing dictatorship where the future for these loyal people looks once again bleak.
Our hearts go out to all who we know in Libya, those trapped and in fear and we can only hope and pray for a swift and peaceful end to this conflict.
