Cairo Conference for Libya 24 March

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Following the unrest, the humanitarian landscape in and around Libya is changing continuously due to various political and security factors. At the heart are civilians with enormous humanitarian needs and the need for coordination and cooperation to ensure they receive much-needed relief.

After organising a phone conference with 22 organisations from Europe and the Middle East on 16^th March, we held a face-to-face conference on 24^th March at 10:00am in Cairo, kindly hosted by the League of Arab States, bringing together 42 organisations from 9 countries. There was an equal balance between the multilateral system, western international NGOs, Islamic INGOs and local Egyptian and Libyan NGOs.

The agenda was centred on the Libyan crisis, new developments and how international and regional organisations and governments can help the people in need.

The meeting showed the need for joint leadership, with Arab organisations complementing existing international coordination. The meeting focused on the needs in different parts of Libya and the neighbouring countries. It discussed the up to date situation, shared wide experiences, created new connections and discussed in detail how to meet medical needs and improve the information.

"We must boost efforts"

In her opening remarks, HE Dr. Sima Bahous, the League of Arab States' Assistant Secretary General for Social Affairs said: "We must boost efforts to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to countries hit by unrest". Dr. Bahous added "This good participation reflects a strong desire to react fast to the problems in the region".

Salim-Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of Human Appeal International, believed that the event went a long way in working to pool the international efforts to alleviate humanitarian suffering of the Libyan people.

Dr. Hany El-Banna, president of The Humanitarian Forum, added: "I believe local communities and the NGO sector are important. They both face many challenges and we must invest in a strong, broad NGO sector to help people cope with disaster and unrest, such as the one we're facing in Libya".

The participants agreed that communication is vital. They agreed to share information and to meet again. Several new partnerships were created for aid delivery and information gathering/sharing.

The participants also discussed humanitarian needs in Yemen and the need to work with local communities and NGOs there.