<p>By Friday, the number of refugees crossing the Tunisian border with Libya since February 20 had reached 100,000, the Tunisian civil defence agency said.<br /><br />The country was waiting for a new influx of thousands of refugees, after only 3,000 arrived on Friday, said the Red Crescent's Tunisian organiser Monji Slim.<br /><br />"We are expecting that the normal flow of around 10,000 new arrivals a day will resume," Slim said.<br /><br />At the northwestern border with Tunisia, refugees were reported to be waiting on the Libyan side in nearby towns, knowing that the border was jammed. Most Egyptians were reported to have been evacuated.<br /><br />At midday yesterday dozens of refugees -- Bangladeshis, Somalis, Ghanaians and Vietnamese -- crossing the border on foot.<br /><br />In Algeria, officials said they were reinforcing their reception capacity for refugees from Libya with a new facility at Ifri, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) southeast of Algiers.<br />A humanitarian convoy left Tabessa in the far east of Algeria for the border between Libya and Tunisia to help refugees, the Algerian news agency APS said.<br /><br />The Tabessa convoy comprised four trailer-trucks carrying 100 tonnes of food, mineral water and blankets, a field kitchen, seven all-terrain vehicles carrying medical teams and equipment and a refrigerated truck loaded with medical supplies.<br /><br />Other convoys would deliver about 200 tonnes of food, medical supplies and blankets to the refugees in the coming days, Mohamed-Laid Aggoun, vice-president of the Algerian Red Crescent said.<br /><br />The state oil group is helping to finance the operation. The new camp at Ifri will have 10 tents, each capable of sleeping 16 people, and will reinforce the small campsites at the border posts of Tinalkoum, Tarat and Debdeb.<br /><br />These have had 400 tents added and been assigned eight civil defence doctors, said the organisation's director Mustapha Lahbiri, quoted by the Algerian APS news agency.<br /><br />The United States contributed USD 3 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to repatriate foreign nationals fleeing Libya, said a State Department statement yesterday.<br /><br />It was part of a joint US-IOM partnership "to strengthen efforts to return home thousands of Egyptians and other nationals from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia who fled Libya," the statement added.<br /><br /><br /></p>
<p>By Friday, the number of refugees crossing the Tunisian border with Libya since February 20 had reached 100,000, the Tunisian civil defence agency said.<br /><br />The country was waiting for a new influx of thousands of refugees, after only 3,000 arrived on Friday, said the Red Crescent's Tunisian organiser Monji Slim.<br /><br />"We are expecting that the normal flow of around 10,000 new arrivals a day will resume," Slim said.<br /><br />At the northwestern border with Tunisia, refugees were reported to be waiting on the Libyan side in nearby towns, knowing that the border was jammed. Most Egyptians were reported to have been evacuated.<br /><br />At midday yesterday dozens of refugees -- Bangladeshis, Somalis, Ghanaians and Vietnamese -- crossing the border on foot.<br /><br />In Algeria, officials said they were reinforcing their reception capacity for refugees from Libya with a new facility at Ifri, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) southeast of Algiers.<br />A humanitarian convoy left Tabessa in the far east of Algeria for the border between Libya and Tunisia to help refugees, the Algerian news agency APS said.<br /><br />The Tabessa convoy comprised four trailer-trucks carrying 100 tonnes of food, mineral water and blankets, a field kitchen, seven all-terrain vehicles carrying medical teams and equipment and a refrigerated truck loaded with medical supplies.<br /><br />Other convoys would deliver about 200 tonnes of food, medical supplies and blankets to the refugees in the coming days, Mohamed-Laid Aggoun, vice-president of the Algerian Red Crescent said.<br /><br />The state oil group is helping to finance the operation. The new camp at Ifri will have 10 tents, each capable of sleeping 16 people, and will reinforce the small campsites at the border posts of Tinalkoum, Tarat and Debdeb.<br /><br />These have had 400 tents added and been assigned eight civil defence doctors, said the organisation's director Mustapha Lahbiri, quoted by the Algerian APS news agency.<br /><br />The United States contributed USD 3 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to repatriate foreign nationals fleeing Libya, said a State Department statement yesterday.<br /><br />It was part of a joint US-IOM partnership "to strengthen efforts to return home thousands of Egyptians and other nationals from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia who fled Libya," the statement added.<br /><br /><br /></p>