LIBYA: Civilian Victims in a Borderless War

“Yesterday was a long day for everyone here” shares Marina, our medical coordinator in Libya. “But our work goes on.”

“Here at the Surgical Centre for War Victims that we’ve set up in Gernada, the work doesn’t stop. The wounded need treatment. Like 12-year old Mousa and 9-year old Mohamed.”

“Mousa was brought to us nearly a month ago, from Al Kofra. A number of bullets had passed through his legs, breaking his thigh-bone. For days he laid wounded along with dozens of others, unable to leave his village due to the fighting. When he finally managed to reach the EMERGENCY hospital, his condition was critical: he had a bad, exposed fracture and infected wounds. He was frightened and wouldn’t speak.”

“His condition has now improved, and his spirits too: now he’s the one who tries to get Mohamed to smile and play. Mohamed has just arrived from Benghazi and is in the next bed. An armoured vehicle ran over his foot while he was running to get back home during an attack.”

“Like Mousa, he wasn’t able to get to the hospital quickly because of the fighting. And now he risks losing his foot. Mousa and Mohamed are just two of the many war victims that we treat every single day in our hospitals. They too are the civilian victims of a borderless war.”

EMERGENCY has recently opened the Gernada Surgical Centre in Libya, to provide medical and surgical assistance to victims of the fighting between ISIS-affiliated militias and government forces in the Benghazi and Derna areas.

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