Reply #37: Desperation and hope among Misratah’s wounded

[tabatha]

By Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Libya researcher

During the long road journey to Benghazi from Saloum in Egypt, I barely felt the impact of the ongoing conflict in Libya, but for a few checkpoints and some thuuwar (revolutionaries) practicing shooting Kalashnikov rifles into the open desert space. Stores were open, people went about their daily activities; there were even some traffic jams around Marg. Upon arrival at the hotel in Benghazi, I was greeted with a bustling, almost jovial, atmosphere in the lobby.

That illusion of normality was quickly shattered the following morning during hospital visits, where the wounded from other parts of Libya were receiving treatment.

At the Benghazi Medical Centre, the Amnesty International delegation met 29 year-old Hanan Mohamed who arrived from Misratah on 5 May on a ship chartered by the International Organization for Migration. The ship evacuated some 800 people, including foreign nationals stranded at Misratah’s port for weeks and over 40 wounded.

http://livewire.amnesty.org/2011/05/09/desperation-and-hope-among-misratah%E2%80%99s-wounded/