Cost-of-living crisis weakens support for refugees in Kufra
LIBYA – Abdullah Suleiman, director of the media office at Kufra Municipal Council, has said rising prices and living costs in the city have reduced the community initiatives that used to help Sudanese refugees, while public services are under continuous pressure from the needs of refugees and local residents.
Displacement routes shift after border closure
In comments to Libya Al-Ahrar TV, which broadcasts from Turkey — followed and summarised by Al-Marsad — Suleiman said Kufra had been the only gateway that received tens of thousands of Sudanese at the start of the war in 2023, both those who settled there and those who passed through to other Libyan cities, before the border was closed.
Since the closure, he added, Kufra is no longer the main entry point, with some arrivals now taking routes through Egypt or Chad, and those coming via Chad crossing through towns closer to it such as Al-Qatrun and Murzuq.
Thousands of refugees and two schools for Sudanese pupils
He noted that the city still hosts large numbers of Sudanese as the war approaches its fourth year, including families who arrived and settled in 2023 and 2024.
Although numbers have fallen significantly, he said they still run into the thousands, citing about 1,000 pupils at one of the two schools dedicated to teaching Sudanese students — a figure that, in his estimate, points to hundreds of families and thousands of pupils.
Criticism of weak support for the host community
Suleiman said a visit by the UN mission to Kufra less than a month ago saw strong criticism of some organisations for providing little assistance to the local host community, even though health, water, sanitation and electricity services have been affected by the burden of hosting refugees and by Kufra’s distance from other Libyan cities.
Some organisations perform their role well while others fall short of what is needed, he added, stressing that support needs go beyond refugees to include local institutions and services so they can hold up, recover and continue serving everyone.
Families without aid since March
He pointed to the hardship refugees face, citing a press survey conducted during the rainfall in Kufra in which some families said they had received no aid since last March, while the assistance reaching other families lasts only a few days.
The host community is also suffering from high prices, he said, which has undermined residents’ ability to keep up volunteer initiatives to help refugees.
