Libya and the problem of conflicting scripts: humanitarianism, European security and the 'boat people'

This article examines the different treatment of North African migrants in media reports since the beginning of the 'Arab Spring' in early 2011. Western governments and aid and humanitarian organisations have been quick to discuss a humanitarian crisis at the land borders of North African states since the revolts against regional regimes prompted many thousands of people to attempt to cross them. The plight of these migrants has contributed one strand to the rationale presented for the intervention of an international coalition.

By contrast, the migrants who have sought to cross the Mediterranean have been incorporated into a security or criminality 'script' by the European governments and media outlets. It seems that the different destintations of the migrants appears to determine the validity of their flight and, should they choose to become Europe's 'irregular entrants', then they are immediately downgraded to a criminal status as they enter the discursive 'territory' of Europe that is bound up with the exigencies of electoral and bureaucratic politics.

There are a variety of implications, chief among them the violations of human rights that European governments and the EU itself risk committing. It seems that it is far preferable for the governments of the states that receive the migrants to be complicit in the creation of a humanitarian crisis at the margins of Europe's space than it is for them to deal with migrants humanely and in accordance with international legal principles. Given the popular power of the criminality discourse in Europe, it would appear that the stakes, in electoral terms, are too high for this to be a realistic option for European politicians.

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Fighting in Somalia border region displaces thousands

Al-Shabab militants

There has been renewed fighting in the Somali border town of Beled Hawo in recent weeks, leading to at least 20 deaths and 6,000 people being displaced.

Fighting for control of the border town between Islamist militant group Al-Shabab and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, supported by the African Union (AU) and the Ahlu-Sunna militia groups is not new: Al-Shabab took control of the town in clashes in October 2010, which led to at least 60,000 people being displaced.

According to a 2nd March report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), fighting resumed in Beled Hawa around the 20th February and intensified over the course of the week. According to Somalia's Bar Kulan radio Ahlu-Sunna militias attacked several bases of Al-Shabab insurgents located at the outskirts of Beled Hawo.

Within days, Beled Hawo was reported to be a 'ghost town' with most resident either fleeing to calmer parts of Somalia's Gedo region, or across the border to Kenya. Fighting, however, was reported in Burta village, a village 30km from Beled Hawo, and even across the border in Kenya.

A temporary ceasefire along the border on 27th February allowed the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to start the registration of refugees and within days over 6,000 Somali asylum seekers had registered in and around Mandera, a Kenyan town near the border. OCHA reports that at least 5000 Kenyans have also been displaced. There are unconfirmed reports of some Somalis being stranded at Border Point One (no man's land) and having difficulties accessing Kenya. The KRCS reports that at least one person has died at Border Point One.

"One woman has been reported dead at Border Point One and 10 casualties are being treated at Mandera District Hospital," Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said in a statement.

Bar Kulan reported on 1st March that Kenyan security forces had closed the border and brought armored vehicles and tanks to the border. This seems to have been in response to threats by Al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has accused Nairobi of allowing Ethiopian troops to use its territory as a staging ground for attacks on them in Somali territory, a claim Nairobi denies.  Whether the closed border means refugees have not been able to get across to Kenay is not clear.

Commissioner of Gedo region from the Somali TFG Mohamed Abdi Kalil accused, on 2nd March, Al-Shabab militants in Beled Hawo of burning residential houses in effort to displace people.

Renewed fighting broke out on or before Thursday 3rd March, according to Press TV. They reported that 20 people have died, and 40 people have been injured, but have not said who they are. Bar Kulan also reported renewed fighting, and have said it is taking place in the centre of town. There have been reports of gun shots and mortar attacks. They have speculated that there are probably no civilian deaths as most civilians have, by now, fled Beled Hawo.

The fighting in the border region is part of a larger attack by the TFG and AU forces, and they have recently seized some strategic positions in Mogadishu from Al-Shabab. Who will end up victorious in Beled Hawo is not yet clear, but it is certain that the renewed fighting has caused a humanitarian emergency and seriously unsettled the border region.

Sources: Relief Web, Bar Kulan, Press TV, Axadle OCHA

For more information, see the Menas Borders website, here.