Tunisia Furious After Libya Battle Crosses Border

But country is perfectly welcoming to Libyan refugees
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 29, 2011 10:57 AM CDT
Tunisia Furious After Libya Battle Crosses Border
A van crosses the Tunisian-Lybian border of Dhuheiba, Tunisia, Thursday, April 21, 2011.   (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Tunisia was not pleased today when a battle between Libya’s warring factions spilled across the border today, after Moammar Gadhafi’s forces attacked a rebel-held frontier crossing. The incursion was brief and limited, and Gadhafi’s forces even apologized locally, Reuters reports. But Tunisia’s foreign ministry still issued a statement expressing “extreme indignation” and demanding “measures to put an immediate stop to these violations.”

But Tunisia has proven remarkably welcoming to Libyans who aren’t fighting. Some 30,000 refugees have fled there, and the vast majority of them have been welcomed into the homes of Tunisians, the New York Times reports. Only about 2,500 have had to settle in the relatively small refugee camp at the border. “It’s the first time I’ve seen such an impressive response,” says a spokesman for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees. (More Tunisia stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X