Robiyana has about 4000 inhabitants from Arabs and Tebou tribes, that make up the majority of population in the region. It has been suffering from marginalization and is deprived of the most basic living requirements for a long time and is still suffering up to now.
The suffering starts from the attempt to reach the region because of the extremely rough road that goes through sand dunes which mark the borders, in the absence of a paved road. Traveling to the region through the desert from the city of Al-Kofra requires a 4x4 vehicle to cross the sand. When you get closer to the region, you can see its features becoming clear gradually, a set of scattered buildings here and there amidst a silence that overwhelms the place. You are surprised, it looks as if you were in medieval times where you find houses made of clay, stones and hay. You look around you on the right and on the left, nothing indicates it is a region within an oil-producing country rich with its natural resources but with a poor people. However, the smiles of its inhabitants alleviate the shock slightly. Wherever you look, people welcome you and hang high hopes on you to make their voices heard to help them get them out of this suffering and move them to the 21st century.
I walked in the region and I found only one single school, where lessons are divided into three sessions a day. The school has nine classes. Yet, it is unable to host the increasing numbers of pupils each year, along with the low number of teachers who are only 12 teachers from the region. The school is still educating its pupils up to the middle school. However for high school, there is only the scientific specialty. So, anyone who wishes to study another specialty, has to move to the city of Al-Kofra to continue their studies. However, due to the lack of dormitories in Al-Kofra city and the rough road, most students are obliged to abandon school.
A number of children gathered around me and told me about their dreams. They all agreed upon one dream: to continue their education and help improve the living conditions in their region. Childish and innocent hopes that, in spite of their simplicity, none of the officials thought of. In the midst of this uproar made by the children's voices, a different voice comes from the back. It is the voice of Haj Mohamed, a 67 year-old man, who looks as if he were 90. The wrinkles of his face tell the story of someone who suffered cruelly in these conditions: “My dreams vanished like footsteps disappearing in the sand when the desert wind comes.” He adds: “I have a son and 5 daughters. I looked forward to helping them finish their studies. Like any father, I imagined them become university students. I put high hopes in them and endured the hardships of life to make this dream come true, yet reality was bitter and stronger than my endeavours, as they all stopped their studies in middle or secondary school, although they were excellent students. They had no solution to continue studying. They were doomed to abandon school like many children of the region.”
As for the health sector, the situation is much harder since there is only one small very dilapidated clinic in the region which lacks everything starting from equipment and instruments and ending with the medical staff. There is one general practitioner, one dentist and one gynecologist. It treats only very simple cases. The other cases are transferred to Al-Kofra city, yet with the absence of an ambulance and the rough roads, the situation becomes extremely difficult.
Mr. Othman May, a civil society activist, tells us the story of twins, each one was born in a different time and place: “a family had twins, one of them was born in the Robiyana clinic, yet things became complicated for the doctor who could not deliver the other”, he says. “The mother was directed to Al-Kofra, yet with the difficult trip and her situation, she delivered the second baby 11 hours later, which is a strange incident. But, with sufferings and deprivation everything becomes possible.
Mr. Youssef Hamdan, a journalist in Tazeur newspaper and a member of the Robyana Union of Civil Society organizations explains the situation of power and water in the city: "Robiyana suffers from many problems, including the problem of power which generation relies on the fuel coming from Al-Kofra.” He adds: “Since the road is unpaved and very rough, fuel delivery is delayed which results in blackouts. As for water, there are water networks but they do not meet the necessary requirements and do not cover the whole population. Moreover, Robyana is linked to one single communication network which happened last mid-July and is not connected to the Internet. It is also vulnerable to security conditions since any armed conflict that happens in the surrounding areas affects the city and things get tougher and more complicated as if it were under siege.”
The people of the region spoke about the security situation saying: “Our region is affected directly and enormously by all armed incodents and conflicts that happen in Al-Kofra city. The living and security conditions become very challenging and the situation worsens at all levels in the region.”
In this context, a meeting took place at the beginning of last August in the Baydha city east of the country, between Mr. Yahiya Abu Baker, the head of the local government of Robyana, and the Minister of Local Governance in the interim government affiliated to the Parliament of Tubruk, where various issues related to the region were discussed. The Minister of Local Governance confirmed, during the meeting, the direct and special attention to the ongoing events in the region and the different efforts deployed to settle disagreements and re-establish peace and stability.
Robyana is a region buried under the sand of the desert. Yet, it is still fighting with life despite hardships, expecting rights that have grown in the eyes of its people to be only mere dreams.
