State and USAID Officials Discuss Humanitarian Crisis in Libya

On Monday, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz and USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Nancy Lindborg discussed their recent trip to Tunisia and Egypt to review humanitarian relief efforts to assist the nearly 250,000 refugees fleeing the Libyan conflict.  They stated that the United States has taken the lead in the humanitarian efforts by providing nearly $47 million in assistance and that our efforts have been very much appreciated by those on the ground and the governments of Tunisia and Egypt.  They also pointed to the “the important nexus of our values and our national security interests, and that it’s when these crises hit that we’re able to provide the kind of humanitarian assistance that is so fundamentally a part of who we were as Americans, coupled with why it’s so important to not let those needs go unmet in a region that’s undergoing an historic transformation.”