RWANDA / LIBYA EVACUEE

Mohamed Daood was flown from detention in Libya to safety in Rwanda by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Coming to terms with the fact that he was safe, he called home and reassured relatives who had feared the worst. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:15
• Production Date: 23 December 2019
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: EVACUATION
• Geographic Subject: DARFUR; LIBYA; RWANDA
• MAMS Id: 2517957
• Parent Id: 2517957
• Alternate Title: unifeed191223d

Description

STORY: RWANDA / LIBYA EVACUEE
TRT: 3:16
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: RECENT, GASHORA AND KIGALI, RWANDA / FILE

Shotlist

RECENT - GASHORA, RWANDA

1. Various shots, Mohamed standing in doorway
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“When you call me a slave, it hurts more than a punch. Of course you have to know that. When someone says to you, you are a slave…. Try to kill me but do not call me a slave because I know myself, who am I.”
3. Close up, Mohamed’s reflection on glass door
4.Med shot, Mohamed standing in doorway
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“I tried to collect the money to go to Libya because Libya that time was good, every day, I hear people are crossing by that way.

FILE – UNHCR – 22 SEPTEMBER 2017, MEDITERRANEAN SEA

6. Various shots, boat carrying refugees rescued at sea

FILE – UNHCR – 18 JUNE 2018, TRIPOLI, LIBYA

7.Wide shot, women at Triq Al Sikka detention center
8.Close up, woman lying on the ground at Triq Al Sikka detention center
9. Med shot, woman at center at Triq Al Sikka detention center

RECENT - GASHORA, RWANDA

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“They beat us, something like this, the people say you are slaves, they beat the people, punish the people, there is no food.”

SEPTEMBER 2019, KIGALI, RWANDA

11. Wide shot, refugees evacuated from Libya arrive on a flight to Rwanda
12. Wide shot, Mohamed (in red checkered shirt) in the queue at airport
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“When I come here, yes, I feel free. Because this country is different.”
14. Wide shot, refugees evacuated from Libya to Rwanda at the airport in Kigali
15. Close up, UNHCR staff helping process refugees
16. Wide shot, refugees board bus
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“I feel like I have gone back home. Yes, this is my home. I feel that this is my home. Because I see in the eyes of the Rwandan people, really, they love others. I see the love in your eyes. That’s why I love this country, I love these people.”
18. Various shots, Mayor of Bugesera District, Richard Mutabazi welcoming refugees with embrace
19. Various shots, Mohamed calling his mother

Storyline

Mohamed Daood was flown from detention in Libya to safety in Rwanda by UNHCR. Coming to terms with the fact that he was safe, he called home and reassured relatives who had feared the worst.

Mohamed Daood Ali, a refugee from Sudan’s Darfur region, had not spoken to his mother in the two years he was held in a detention center in Libya. He left Darfur and travelled to Libya in the hopes of crossing the Mediterranean to Europe but never made it out.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“When you call me a slave, it hurts more than a punch. Of course you have to know that. When someone says to you, you are a slave…. Try to kill me but do not call me a slave because I know myself, who am I.”

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“I tried to collect the money to go to Libya because Libya that time Libya was good, every day, I hear people are crossing by that way.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“They beat us, something like this, the people say you are slaves, they beat the people, punish the people, there is no food.”

Mohamed is one of hundreds of refugees to land in Rwanda from Libya since September on evacuation flights organized by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The agency assisted more than 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers to leave Libya in 2019.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“When I come here, yes, I feel free. Because this country is different.”

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Daood, Darfuri Refugee:
“I feel like I have gone back home. Yes, this is my home. I feel that this is my home. Because I see in the eyes of the Rwandan people, really, they love others. I see the love in your eyes. That’s why I love this country, I love these people.”

Phone calls like Mohamed’s delight worried family members who fear their loved ones may have perished. They can also bring mixed emotions.

Mohamed was a student when he fled conflict in Darfur, western Sudan. His family put together the little money they had to send him on a journey that would take him to Egypt and onwards to Libya.

People entering or trying to leave Libya without valid documentation are often at risk of being arrested and detained. Mohamed was hoping to try to cross the Mediterranean by boat but was arrested on his journey through the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

Around 2,500 refugees and asylum seekers are held in detention centers in Libya, according to UNHCR. Some 306 have been evacuated to Rwanda under a deal between its government, UNHCR and the African Union.