Refugees: Hakim Bello.. Here’s my story of fleeing and surviving ..!

03:12 PM Apr, 22 2015
Sudanese Online
Hadeer Alzain-
My Library at SudaneseOnline



The Guardian
Monday 20 April 2015

I was a Lampedusa refugee. Here’s my story of fleeing Libya – and surviving:
Hakim Bello



A boat with immigrants on board arrives at Lampedusa, southern Italy.
‘I said my last prayer – I felt like I was dead already.’ Photograph: Ettore Ferrari/EPA


The boy next to me fell to the floor and for a moment I didn’t know if he had fainted or was dead – then I saw that he was covering his

eyes so he didn’t have to see the waves any more. A pregnant woman vomited and started screaming.

Below deck, people were shouting that they couldn’t breathe, so the men in charge of the boat went down

and started beating them. By the time we saw a rescue helicopter, two days after our boat had left Libya

with 250 passengers on board, some people were already dead – flung into the sea by the waves, or suffocated

downstairs in the dark. It’s very difficult for me to think about this, nearly four years after I paid a smuggler to get

me out of Libya, but it’s important for people to understand what is happening to us and why.

I’m one of several hundred thousand people who, since the Arab uprisings of 2011, have arrived in Europe across the Mediterranean.

It is now the deadliest border in the world. We all have different reasons for doing it: some people think they’ll find a better life in

Europe, others just want to get away from a war zone. But everyone feels they have no other option.


..

(2)

I’m originally from Nigeria and I had been living in Libya for five years when the war broke out.
I had a good life: I was working as a tailor and I earned enough to send money home to loved ones.
But after the fighting started, people like us – black people – became very vulnerable, because all the
youth had weapons and they knew we had money in our houses and they could rob us.

If you went out for something to eat, a gang would stop you and ask if you supported them.
They might be rebels, they might be government, you didn’t know.


..

(3)

I couldn’t go back to Nigeria – the way south was blocked – so I met some people in Tripoli who said they knew how to get to Italy.
They took us to a beach outside the city where there were hundreds of people camped out, all waiting to get on a boat.
Some were from Syria, or Algeria, or Egypt. But most were from west or east Africa.
Lots were men, but there were women and families with small children, too.

There are no fixed prices: it depends on what contacts you have and how desperate you are.
I paid 400 dinar (equivalent then to about £250), which was one week’s salary.
The smugglers had taken old commercial fishing boats – some so old they weren’t supposed to be used – put
new engines in and given them to people they knew. The “captain” of the ship might not even know the way to Italy.
He might not even have been a captain before.


..

(4)

When the ship set off, we were worried about the engines breaking down, but we soon realised the biggest
problem was the waves. The boat wasn’t built for the journey and it was flipped up every time a big wave hit.
All I could do was say my last prayer – I felt like I was dead already. This was in 2011, but now there are
many more people camped on the Libyan coast, waiting for their turn.


..

(5)

When I first heard that British politicians did not support a rescue operation in the Mediterranean,
I thought it would be some far-right party saying that – I didn’t realise it was the government’s policy.
It’s a terrible decision. All of Europe has a responsibility to stop people from drowning.

It’s partly due to their actions in Africa that people have had to leave their homes.
Italy is doing so much to help save refugees and it needs support. Countries such as Britain, France,
Belgium and Germany think they are far away and not responsible, but they all took part in colonising Africa.
Nato took part in the war in Libya. They’re all part of the problem.


..

(6)

It’s also important to understand that our journey doesn’t end when we reach land.
After the helicopter found our boat, we were taken by an Italian ship to Lampedusa,
where we were locked in a reception centre that looked like a prison. Then I was sent to
a small town in southern Italy, and I was lucky to find a job sewing tents, but it paid so little
I couldn’t afford to live. Italy is in crisis, and millions of its own citizens have left to find
work in northern Europe, so I thought I would do the same.


..

(7)

I went to Berlin. I was offered jobs, but I couldn’t take them as I didn’t have the right documents.
The Dublin treaty means refugees are usually forced to stay in the country where they arrive.
I ran out of money and ended up living on the street, at a camp where refugees were fighting
for the right to live and work in Germany. The camp was a political place, and it motivated me.

How is it that my life here is worse than under Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship? I believe in
democracy, but in Europe it seems there’s democracy for some but not for others.
We call our group Lampedusa in Berlin.


..

(8)

I’ve been lucky.
In Berlin, I met my girlfriend and we now have a baby boy. He’s three months old.

When I look at him, I think about how I want him to live in a better world, and that he
shouldn’t have to face the things I have. When I set out on the journey from Tripoli,

I had no idea how dangerous it would be.
I had only been on a boat once before in my life. In fact, I can’t even swim.

...

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...
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/lampedusa-refugee-fleeing-libya-boats-italy?CMP=share_btn_fbhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/lampedu...aly?CMP=share_btn_fb

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TheGuardian
Friday 17 April 2015

Refugees don’t need our tears. They need us to stop making them refugees:
Anders Lustgarten


A dinghy packed with migrants off the Libyan coast.
‘Five hundred people have already died this year;
the figure for the equivalent period in 2014 was 15.' Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters



- The EU’s de facto policy is to let migrants drown to stop others coming.
How many more deaths can we stomach?


The whole article:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/17/refugees-eu-policy-migrants-how-many-deathshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/17/refugee...ants-how-many-deaths



...

Christiane Amanpour
‏@camanpour 5m, 5 minutes ago
“These people are dying out at sea! Just rescue them!
” http://cnn.it/1HlWYO0http://cnn.it/1HlWYO0




..

Christiane Amanpour
‏@camanpour 17 minutes ago
Stop traffickers “by air, by land, or by sea,” Malta’s Foreign Minister tells me:

http://cnn.it/1bjx27Rhttp://cnn.it/1bjx27R





..

Christiane Amanpour ‏@camanpour 21 minutes ago
Malta’s FM tells me :
Europe must stop this “obscene” trade by traffickers on the Mediterranean.







http://cnn.it/1bjx27Rhttp://cnn.it/1bjx27R


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إنقاذ 3000 من الغرق بمياه المتوسط في يوم واحد
والأردنيون ينضمون لقوافل الهجرة إلى أوروبا
آخر تحديث الأحد, 03 مايو/أيار 2015; 01:51
دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة (CNN)-
أعلنت البحرية الإيطالية والفرنسية إنقاذ ما يقرب من 3000 مهاجر كانوا على متن عدد من القوارب في مياه البحر المتوسط، خلال يوم واحد
السبت، في الوقت الذي أكدت فيه السلطات المصرية ضبط 14 أردنياً أثناء محاولتهم الهجرة إلى أوروبا.

وقالت القوات البحرية وإدارة حرس السواحل في إيطاليا إن السفن الإيطالية شاركت في عمليات إنقاذ شملت نحو 2750 مهاجراً قرب السواحل الليبية
السبت، من بينهم 1000 شخص تم إنقاذهم من قبل إحدى فرقاطات البحرية، بينما قامت سفينة دورية تابعة لحرس السواحل بإنقاذ 675 شخصاً في عمليتين.


وشاركت سفينة أخرى في إنقاذ 87 شخصاً، تم انتشالهم من مياه المتوسط، بحسب ما أكدت البحرية الإيطالية على حسابها بموقع "تويتر"، فيما
قالت إدارة حرس السواحل إن إحدى دورياتها تمكنت من إنقاذ 494 مهاجراً، بالإضافة إلى إنقاذ 397 آخرين
السبت، أثناء الاستجابة لنداء استغاثة من أحد القوارب بالمتوسط.


كما ذكرت إدارة حرس السواحل على موقع التواصل الاجتماعي نفسه، أن إحدى سفنها تمكنت من إنقاذ 97 مهاجراً
كانوا على متن قارب مطاطي، في طريقهم إلى أوروبا، قرب السواحل الليبية، ولم تعلن البحرية أو إدارة حرس السواحل
على الفور، عن جنسيات المهاجرين الذين تم إنقاذهم السبت.

من جانب آخر، أكدت البحرية الفرنسية أن إحدى سفنها، المشاركة في عمليات البحث والإنقاذ في مياه المتوسط، تمكنت
من إنقاذ 217 مهاجراً، كانوا على متن ثلاثة قوارب، من الغرق قبالة السواحل الليبية السبت أيضاً، وقالت
إنه سيتم تسليم هؤلاء المهاجرين إلى السلطات الإيطالية.

وفي العاصمة المصرية القاهرة، قالت السلطات الرسمية إن قوات حرس الحدود تمكنت من إحباط محاولة 14 أردنياً
الهجرة غير الشرعية إلى إيطاليا، من بينهم 3 رجال و4 سيدات و7 أطفال، بحسب ما أورد موقع "أخبار مصر"، نقلاً
عن وكالة أنباء الشرق الأوسط السبت.

فشلت في إنزال الفيديو، تجدونه في الرابط هذا
http://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/05/03/italy-france-migrants-rescue?hpt=continoushttp://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/05/03/italy-france-migrants...rescue?hpt=continous

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رأي .. الهجرة والمتوسط
والبؤس في العالم
أبراهيم عوض
القاهرة، مصر
الأحد, 26 ابريل/نيسان 2015





كامل المقال هنا
http://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/26/opinion-shorouk-illegal-immegrationhttp://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/26/opinion-shorouk-illegal-immegration

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لاجئ سوري في مقال لـ
CNN:
هكذا هربت إلى أوروبا بقوارب الموت.. ولهذا استحق الأمر هذه المعاناة

الجمعة 24 ابريل/نيسان 2015




كامل المقال هنا
http://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2015/04/24/commentary-smuggled-syrian-migranthttp://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2015/04/24/commentary-smuggled-syrian-migrant


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أمواج المتوسط تختلط بجثث مئات الباحثين عن "حياة أفضل".. إلى متى سينشغل العالم؟
الثلاثاء 21 ابريل/نيسان 2015



كامل المقال هنا
http://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/21/wedeman-migrant-crisishttp://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/21/wedeman-migrant-crisis

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لماذا يخاطر آلاف المهاجرين بأرواحهم في سبيل الوصول
إلى "الأرض الموعودة"؟
الاثنين, 20 ابريل 2015






كامل المقال هنا
http://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/20/why-migrants-are-dying-reach-italyhttp://arabic.cnn.com/world/2015/04/20/why-migrants-are-dying-reach-italy



______________

3.419
مهاجراً ابتلعهم البحر المتوسط في طريقهم إلى أوروبا
الأربعاء, 10 ديسمبر 2014




كامل المقال هنا
http://arabic.cnn.com/world/2014/12/10/europe-immigration-mediterranean-victimshttp://arabic.cnn.com/world/2014/12/10/europe-immigration-mediterranean-victims

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thanks Hadeer for chance to express our deeply condolences to the relatives of those martyrs
Allah bless all of them , where ever they are . they are oppressed by nature as well as governors .and we will not excuse Europe who colonized their countries and robbed their wealth . and we will not forget the slavery done by white men in africa, and what they pay now is part of their debts to africa and we will not consider it as aid or support to those poor refugees