Brussels Sends Bulgarian Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva to Libya

European International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria. Photo by EPA/BGNES

In view of the emergency in Libya, the European Commission will send EU humanitarian commissioner, Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva, 'to the region' later on Wednesday, the head of the bloc's executive announced.

Speaking at a press conference, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he had conferred with UN Refugee Agency chief Antonio Guterres earlier in the day and learned that 140,000 refugees from Libya had amassed on the borders with Tunisia and Egypt.

'It is really a humanitarian tragedy,' Barroso commented in a news conference.

The commission has also decided in its weekly meeting in Brussels to increase assistance for the refugees from EUR 3 M to EUR 10 M.

At the beginning of the week Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva raised the alarm over a potential humanitarian disaster resulting from the civic unrest in Libya.

The ongoing conflict in Libya and its impact on oil and food prices could push tens of millions of people around the world close to starvation, Georgieva warned Monday in Brussels.

The Bulgarian EU Commissioner pointed out that the number of people facing chronic hunger around the world fell to an estimated 880 million before the financial crash of 2008, but has risen since; she has predicted that following the Libyan crisis, 'the number will be over a billion: how much over, the next days and weeks will tell.

Georgieva also announced that most of the 10 000 EU citizens in Libya have left, but there are still 650 asking to be evacuated. The remaining EU nationals are often in tough areas to reach, making their rescue difficult.

More than 1000 people have been killed in the turmoil in Libya, according to her.

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