20110311
reuters

RAS JDIR CAMP, Tunisia (Reuters) - Hundreds of African migrants who fled the violence in Libya to a refugee camp in Tunisia are refusing to return to their home countries where they say they would face poverty or violence.

Tens of thousands of migrant workers have been fleeing Libya since fighting between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and rebels bent on ending his 41-year long rule broke out last month.

More than 120,000 migrants have crossed into Tunisia since February 21, including some 20,000 Tunisians who quickly rejoined their families.

Around 75,000 migrants, mostly Egyptians, were repatriated as several countries chartered ships and flights to send them home. But 15,000-20,000 people are still living in tents at Ras Jdir, the main border crossing into Tunisia from Tripoli.

While a majority of them cannot wait to go back home, hundreds of people -- mostly from Nigeria, Somalia and other African countries -- are hoping to be able to file for asylum and go to Europe.

"It is dangerous to go back. In my country what will be waiting for me is hunger and instability. My country is not safe and I do not want to go back," Khadija Sheikh Ali, 24, a Somali woman who arrived from Tripoli on Friday, told Reuters.

"Here I have food and clean water and it is safe, why should I go back? We call on the world to help us. I do not care where I go next as long as they do not send me back to Somalia, I have nothing in Somalia," she said.

Aid workers said migrants were repatriated on a voluntary basis and that if a large number of people began refusing to go back to their countries that would complicate their efforts to deal with the humanitarian emergency at the border.