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LIBYA / DESERT ESCAPE
STORY: LIBYA / DESERT ESCAPE
TRT: 4.10
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28-29 MARCH 2011, EL-BEDANN, AJDABIYA, LIBYA
1. Wide shot, rebel trucks driving through Ajdabiya
2. Wide shot, city
3. Tilt up, Abdulgader Milet showing destroyed bathroom
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdulgader Milet, Adjdabiya:
"That night we did not sleep at all because the sound of the bombing was so awful, the whole area my house and the neighbours houses was shaking so bad, it was awful that night we did not sleep at all."
5. Various shots, broken window and room
6. Wide shot, children around tents in the desert
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Khalat, Ajdabiya resident:
“Yes we need the water and tent and food all these babies we need it. Old man you can’t stay without food, baby you can’t stay without food."
8. Med shot, Ali Hadaad in camp
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hadaad, Ajdabiya resident:
"As God is my witness there is only hardship in Ajdabiya, no supplies, no drinking water. Everything has to come by truck and everyday it starts over.”
10. Wide shot, tents
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fadil Abdul Rahman, Ajdabiya resident:
“People came and attack us and also the people who were hidden in the mosque. I fled on foot with the four-year-old.”
12. Set up shot, Mahmoud Suleiman inside a Bedouin tent
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Suleiman, Bedouin Elder:
"I’ve never seen anything like it. Almost all of them were from Ajdabiya coming by car, foot, donkey, all with whatever they could carry. There are some who even lost their children. I have never seen anything like this before.”
14. Tilt up from baby to father holding her
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Anwar Hasan, oil Refinery Specialist:
“As you saw here the lady gave birth to a young girl, if it weren’t for an older lady who knew something about birth she would have died, her and the baby.”
16. Wide shot, young boy in camp
17. Wide shot, tents and family
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Adheem, Medical Director Tobruk Hospital:
"The people know they are from Ajdabiya, they are from the outside they need many things, they need food they need the drugs they need even the tent to live.”
19. Various shots, rebel fighters armed on tanks
The town of Ajdabiya once again in the hands of the rebels. Over the past two weeks it has seen some of the fiercest fighting in Libya.
Thousands fled for their lives when the city was bombarded.
Abdulgader Milet and his family were among them. They were at home when a shell crashed through their roof.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdulgader Milet, Adjdabiya:
"That night we did not sleep at all because the sound of the bombing was so awful, the whole area my house and the neighbours houses was shaking so bad, it was awful that night we did not sleep at all."
They are living in tents without water, sanitation, medicine supplies are low and hard to come by.
SOUNDBITE (English) Khalat, Ajdabiya resident:
“Yes we need the water and tent and food all these babies we need it, old man you can’t stay without food baby you cant stay without food."
Ali Hadaad is a retired soldier living in Ajdabiya. He too had to flee.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hadaad, Ajdabiya resident:
"As God is my witness there is only hardship in Ajdabiya, no supplies, no drinking water. Everything has to come by truck and everyday it starts over.”
Many of the displaced ended up here in the desert east of the city.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fadil Abdul Rahman, Ajdabiya Resident:
“People came and attack us and also the people who were hidden in the mosque. I fled on foot with the four-year-old.”
In a nearby Bedouin settlement called el Bedann, Mahmoud Suleiman describes how he saw throngs of people arriving.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Suleiman, Bedouin elder.
"I’ve never seen anything like it. Almost all of them were from Ajdabiya coming by car, foot, donkey, all with whatever they could carry. There are some who even lost their children. I have never seen anything like this before.”
He says a list of missing children was made some have been reunited others are still waiting.
This baby was born here in a tent less than a week ago.
Her parents called her, Antisar, or "victory" in Arabic. Thankfully, there was someone to help her come into the world, explains Anwar Hasan.
SOUNDBITE (English) Anwar Hasan, oil refinery specialist:
“As you saw here the lady gave birth to a young girl, if it weren’t for an older lady who knew something about birth she would have died, her and the baby.”
Some help is getting through.
Food and water is carried here by volunteers from the city of Tobruk, a 300 km drive across the desert. And UNHCR and its partners have sent in four convoys of aid and more are coming says the agency.
SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Adheem, Medical Director Tobruk Hospital:
"The people know they are from Ajdabiya, they are from the outside they need many things, they need food they need the drugs they need even the tent to live.”
Ajdabiya itself is no longer on the front line. Some people are thinking of going back to their homes. But the city has no power, water and shortages will continue to be a problem.
Homes need rebuilding but the ongoing fighting between Gaddifi’s supporters and the rebels is not far that down the road and not nearly over.
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