{"id":987,"date":"2017-11-03T04:34:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T04:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=987"},"modified":"2017-11-03T11:04:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T11:04:36","slug":"refugee-graves-were-a-common-sight-in-libya-now-its-tunisias-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/03\/refugee-graves-were-a-common-sight-in-libya-now-its-tunisias-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugee graves, a common sight in Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hide-on-mobile\">\n<header class=\"content__head tonal__head tonal__head--tone-feature \">\n<div class=\"tonal__standfirst u-cf\">\n<div class=\"gs-container\">\n<div class=\"content__main-column\">\n<div class=\"content__standfirst\">\n<p>A crackdown appears to be pushing the problem across the border in north Africa, with dozens of bodies now washing ashore<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content__main tonal__main tonal__main--tone-feature\">\n<div class=\"gs-container\">\n<div class=\"content__main-column content__main-column--article js-content-main-column \">\n<div class=\"js-score\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"js-sport-tabs football-tabs content__mobile-full-width\"><\/div>\n<figure id=\"img-1\" class=\"media-primary media-content() \">\n<div class=\"u-responsive-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"maxed responsive-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/ea0a12cd9b9ce0f1b79a80909348c2763f68bc8a\/139_60_4757_3204\/master\/4757.jpg?w=300&amp;q=55&amp;auto=format&amp;usm=12&amp;fit=max&amp;s=6a52657b58a0e05bc85a60b428557e94\" alt=\"Chamseddine Marzoug at the small cemetary near Zarzis where he and volunteers bury the migrants and refugees that wash ashore.\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption caption--main caption--img\">Chamseddine Marzoug at the small cemetary near Zarzis where he and volunteers bury the migrants and refugees that wash ashore. Photograph: Johannes Skov Andersen for the Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"content__meta-container js-content-meta js-football-meta u-cf \">\n<div class=\"meta__extras \">\n<div class=\"meta__social\">\n<ul class=\"social social--top js-social--top u-unstyled u-cf\">\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--facebook \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--twitter \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--email \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"js-social__secondary social__item social__item--more js-social__item--more\"><button class=\"meta-button social-tray__button\"><span class=\"u-h\">View more sharing options<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"meta__numbers\">\n<div class=\"meta__number js-sharecount\" title=\"Facebook: 277\">\n<h3 class=\"sharecount__heading\"><span class=\"sharecount__text u-h\">Shares<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"sharecount__value sharecount__value--short\">277<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"u-h meta__number\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"media__img meta__image\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">Jacob Svendsen and Johannes Skov Andersen in Zarzis, Tunisia<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__dateline\">Thursday 2 November 2017 <span class=\"content__dateline-time\">01.00\u00a0EDT<\/span>Last modified on Thursday 2 November 2017<span class=\"content__dateline-time\">09.04\u00a0EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body\">\n<p>\u201cThe dead are someone\u2019s husband, someone\u2019s child, wife, sister or brother. Would you bury your loved ones in this manner?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The short Tunisian man gestures towards makeshift graves containing the bodies of dozens of drowned migrants. This may have become a common enough sight across the border in Libya in recent years. Now a crackdown on people trafficking in that country appears to be pushing the problem into <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/tunisia\">Tunisia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are not at fault for being buried here. We are at fault. You are at fault. The world is at fault.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"teads-inread\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"teads-inread\"><\/div>\n<p>His name is Chamseddine Marzoug. With the help of a small group of volunteers in the fishing town of Zarzis in the southern part of Tunisia, near the Libyan border, he is the one who cleans up when bloated bodies wash ashore or when fishermen pick up both living and dead migrants at sea.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"element element-atom\">\n<details class=\"clean explainer-snippet explainer-snippet--new explainer-snippet--light explainer-snippet--guide\">\n<summary class=\"explainer-snippet__header\"><span class=\"explainer-snippet__label\">Quick Guide<\/span><\/summary>\n<h4 class=\"explainer-snippet__headline\">How has Europe dealt with its migration crisis?<\/h4>\n<summary class=\"explainer-snippet__header\"><button class=\"button button--large explainer-snippet__handle\">Show<\/button><\/summary>\n<\/details>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A small 600 sq metre plot of land wedged between the town dump and an olive grove serves as an informal burial site. A gaping hole in the ground is ready to receive the next unfortunate. Plastic bags and rubbish are caught in the branches of the olive trees. From here, there is a view of the new football stadium on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>All around, heaps of sand constitute the latest graves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease show respect and avoid stepping on them,\u201d Marzoug warns. At the other end of the site, the wind has removed all trace of the graves of the drowned. There are no headstones or flags \u2013 no markers aside from the heaps of sand corroded by the wind.<\/p>\n<p>Marzoug also oversees the relief efforts for the living, who end up at the local Red Crescent shelter. They receive milk, bread, soap, water, rice and, if there is any money, around \u00a34.50 a week.<\/p>\n<p>The former fisherman and taxi driver says more and more are coming in, both living and dead. The new arrivals are coming from Libya by the thousand, according to the Red Crescent.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"img-2\" class=\"element element-image img--portrait element--supporting fig--narrow-caption fig--has-shares \">\n<div class=\"u-responsive-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gu-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/aa85d9825dc4b6375123521d7933d982a9243a59\/0_215_2879_3628\/master\/2879.jpg?w=300&amp;q=55&amp;auto=format&amp;usm=12&amp;fit=max&amp;s=d15bd55c8e359f3dac14bc8d2d95c4a5\" alt=\"Chamseddine Marzoug also oversees relief efforts for the living.\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"block-share block-share--article hide-on-mobile \"><a class=\"rounded-icon block-share__item block-share__item--facebook js-blockshare-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dialog\/share?app_id=180444840287&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2017%2Fnov%2F02%2Frefugee-graves-were-a-common-sight-in-libya-now-its-tunisias-turn%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_fb%26page%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2&amp;picture=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.guim.co.uk%2Faa85d9825dc4b6375123521d7933d982a9243a59%2F0_215_2879_3628%2F2879.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"u-h\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"rounded-icon block-share__item block-share__item--twitter js-blockshare-link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Refugee%20graves%20were%20a%20common%20sight%20in%20Libya.%20Now%20it%27s%20Tunisia%27s%20turn&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2017%2Fnov%2F02%2Frefugee-graves-were-a-common-sight-in-libya-now-its-tunisias-turn%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_tw%26page%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"u-h\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"rounded-icon block-share__item block-share__item--pinterest js-blockshare-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?description=Refugee%20graves%20were%20a%20common%20sight%20in%20Libya.%20Now%20it%27s%20Tunisia%27s%20turn&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2017%2Fnov%2F02%2Frefugee-graves-were-a-common-sight-in-libya-now-its-tunisias-turn%3Fpage%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2&amp;media=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.guim.co.uk%2Faa85d9825dc4b6375123521d7933d982a9243a59%2F0_215_2879_3628%2F2879.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"u-h\">Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption caption--img caption caption--img\">Chamseddine Marzoug also oversees relief efforts for the living. Photograph: Johannes Skov Andersen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tunisia became something of a magnet for migrants and their smugglers earlier in the year, when efforts by the EU and in particular the Italian government to clamp down on trafficking in Libya pushed the problem north-west.<\/p>\n<p>Marzoug is not shy of assigning blame, launching into a 10-minute lecture. \u201cThe truly guilty are the politicians keeping them from leaving. The migrants are African and no one is interested in them. But if it had been a man with blond hair and green eyes, you would all be interested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is far from over. There might be 40% fewer now, but Libya is still in a state of chaos, and if you look at what\u2019s happening now, there are over 100 different militias. And when the boats are intercepted and returned to the coast, the migrants simply make another attempt from Libya, or here from Tunisia as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He reiterates an argument popular in these parts: the money the EU has spent on border control could be more usefully spent by investing in the countries the migrants come from. \u201cDon\u2019t invest in the corrupt governments, but invest in the people. Your money should go into the people\u2019s pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline1\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline1 u-h ad-slot--rendered\">\n<div class=\"ad-slot__label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/59666047\/theguardian.com\/world\/article\/ng_0__container__\" class=\"ad-slot__content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the past year, he and the other volunteers have buried 72 decomposed bodies. Over the years they have dug a total of 400 unmarked graves in the area. The last grave was dug a week ago. It was for a woman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have pictures of her. Do you want to see?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pulls out a USB drive containing many pictures \u2013 happy memories much like our own: Marzoug together with his youngest grandchild, with his family, out at sea and together with other fishermen. Then the picture of the woman appears. She is floating face-down near the water\u2019s edge. There are others: bloated bodies, half-naked bodies, bulging, discoloured faces and hands with the skin peeling off in big chunks.<\/p>\n<p>When the dead are recovered by fishermen or discovered on the beach, Marzoug heads out with a policeman and sometimes with a representative from the local authorities. Occasionally they have to rent a delivery van. The body is brought to the hospital for a postmortem. It is then put in a bag and transported to the burial site, a grave already dug for the occasion.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"element element-interactive interactive\"><\/figure>\n<p>Marzoug and his group of volunteers in Zarzis are in the process of crowdfunding money for a new plot of land intended to be the next burial site, hoping for better arranged graves with headstones and a small cottage where they can prepare the bodies \u2013 and a fence to encircle the site.<\/p>\n<p>Before they cross the sea, the migrants dispose of their papers. Only one of the 72 bodies buried by Marzoug and the volunteers this year has been identified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer name was Rosa Maria. The survivors told us her name when they were picked up by fishermen. She was from Nigeria.\u201d Marzoug tells us of the woman and the child found close together on the beach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot know for certain, but I believe they were mother and child. We buried them head to head so they can be together in death.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Jacob Svendsen and Johannes Skov Andersen work for the Danish daily Politiken.<\/em><em>This article is part of a series by Politiken, Le Monde, El Pa\u00eds, La Stampa, Der Spiegel and the Guardian.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Translation: Christoffer \u00d8stergaard.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A crackdown appears to be pushing the problem across the border in north Africa, with dozens of bodies now washing ashore Chamseddine Marzoug at the small cemetary near Zarzis where he and volunteers bury the migrants and refugees that wash ashore. 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