Libyans Need a Break from Fighting: UN

UN officials today called for a pause in the fighting between Libyan government forces and rebels, to allow humanitarian aid to get through to civilians caught in the cross fire.

UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told the Security Council this afternoon that continued fighting in the port city of Misrata as well as Western Mountain towns like Nalut and Zintan put those areas at the forefront of humanitarian concerns.

 “Civilians still coming under fire in these areas of conflict.” she said .“The Security Council must insist that all parties respect international humanitarian law and ensure civilians are spared. The reported use of cluster bombs,sea and land mines as well as death and injuries caused by aerial bombings show a callous disregard for the physical and psychological well being of civilians.” 

Amos says that after being shelled over nearly two months, Misrata is facing important shortages of medical supplies and trained personnel to treat civilian casualties. 

“All parties need to agree a temporary pause in the conflict in Misrata and other areas. This would provide respite from violence for the civilian population and enable those who wish to leave to do so”

Continued fighting in Libya’s Western Mountain region has similarly reduced access to food and medical supplies and forced at least 50 000 people to flee into Tunisia.

Human Rights Watch has received several reports that civilian areas in the towns of Nalut, Takut and Zintan had come under fire by Gaddafi forces.

The breakdown of supply lines along with fuel and cash shortages and high food prices could also have important consequences on food security in these areas in the coming months. 

“The food stocks are depleted. Libya is a food deficit country, heavily reliant on imports.Between 75 and 90 % of all of consumed cereals are imported.” she said. “ The reports that we are getting is that the East has enough food stocks for about two months and in the West they have enough food stocks for about three months”

Amos said that implementation of sanctions against Libya were also making the delivery of aid more difficult.

“One of the issues for a country like Libya, is that it has a very central distribution system for things like food for example. So if for any reason, commercial supplies coming into the country are not able to come in, then it has an impact on that central distribution system and it has an impact on food stocks across the country.”

UN Declares No Fly Zone For Libya And Calls For Cease-Fire

The UN Security Council has agreed on the adoption of a no fly zone in Libya, allowing the international community to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

The Security Council voted in favor of the resolution 10 - 0, with Brazil, China, Germany, India and Russia choosing to abstain. 

The resolution authorizes states working in tandem with the UN and Arab League to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack, however it specifically rules out the deployment of any form of occupying forces on the ground.

US Ambassador Susan Rice declined to discuss details surrounding the use of force, while Libya’s Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said he hoped military help would come as quickly as possible. Dabbashi said its main purpose was to protect Libyan civilians, not to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.

 German Ambassador Peter Witting explained that his country chose to abstain because of the resolution’s military component. 

India’s Deputy Ambassador argued the Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Libya wasn’t given enough time to carry out his mandate and deplored the fact the decision for military intervention was taken with so little reliable information coming out of Libya.

 The Secretary General’s envoy to Libya, Abdul Ilha Khatib, returned from Tripoli earlier this week after having spent two days meeting Libyan officials.

The decision to authorize a no fly zone and allow for possible air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces comes following support from the Arab League as well as from Libya’s own rebelling representatives at the UN. Arab League members are expected to take a leading role in enforcing the No Fly Zone, although it remained unclear which specific countries would participate and to what extent. 

The first paragraph of the resolution calls for an immediate cease fire and an end to all attacks against civilians. But in a message broadcast on Libyan state television today, Col. Muammar Gaddafi announced that his forces were to begin an assault tonight on the Eastern city Benghazi, Libya’s second most populated urban area, warning that they would crush any opposition they encountered.

 Benghazi was one of the first Libyan city to fall into the hands of protesters after large scale demonstrations broke out against the regime on February 15th. The city has since served as home base for the Libyan National Council, whose forces have been fighting troops loyal to the regime over the past week. 

 France, one of the co-sponsor behind the resolution. was one of the first Security Council member states to meet with representatives of the Libyan National Council and to recognize it as Libya’s legitimate government last week. 

 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe travelled to UN headquarters in New York to attend today’s Security Council consultations. Juppe told the Council that it only had had days, perhaps even a few hours, to prevent large scale humanitarian crisis. 

 Speaking from Tunis earlier today, Secretary of State Clinton said the adoption of an effective no fly zone would require targeted bombings of Gaddafi’s defense systems.

New UN Envoy Plans To Visit Libya

The new UN envoy to Libya plans to meet with Gaddafi government officials in Tripoli over the next few days.

The envoy, former Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelilah Al Khatib, met with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and was introduced to the press today at UN headquarters in New York. Khatib said he accepted the position in the hope of ending attacks against civilians and preserving the unity of the Libyan people.

Khatib will go to Libya with senior UN humanitarian officials, who so far have been prevented from entering the country to assess humanitarian needs.

Ban said Khatib’s mission would not only be to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground but also to undertake broad consultations on political and security issues with various actors, although he said he was not yet sure if his envoy would reach out the Libyan National Council, the newly created opposition group consisting of former Gaddafi government officials. 

In Paris today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy met representatives of Libyan National Council, and referred to the group as Libya’s legitimate government.

Ban refused to comment the French statement, instead saying the recognition or legitimacy of any government was a matter to be determined by UN member states. For his part Khatib said he hoped to meet all parties involved in the conflict.

Accounts of civilian deaths have increased in recent days, as Gaddafi’s forces have reportedly launched a military offensive aiming to take back opposition held towns.

Yesterday, US National Intelligence Director James Clapper said that as the situation now stands, he anticipates an eventual Gaddafi military victory over opposition groups.

In the past few days, some Western governments have floated the idea of offering military assistance to Libya’s opposition, although some have voiced concern this might be  a violation of the most recent Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo on the country. Ban said international organizations , including the Security Council, would be focusing on bold steps to address the fighting in the coming weeks, but that the final decision on how to proceed would once again belong to them.

UN Pleads For Access To Libyan Situation

United Nations officials fear the humanitarian situation in Libya is worsening although they admit they are having a hard time getting a good estimate because of their limited access in the field.

Doctors have seen a sharp increase in casualties in the cities of Ajdabiya and Misrata, while intense fighting has been reported near the western town of Ras Edjir,  said Catherine Bragg, the UN’s Deputy Humanitarian Affairs and Relief Coordinator.

 However Bragg pointed out most of the country remains out of the reach of humanitarian groups.  She told a briefing for UN members states that the Emergency Relief Coordinator has called on all parties to facilitate and allow urgent humanitarian access, particularly in Western Libya, following reports of civilian injuries and deaths resulting from the fighting. 

Bragg says that more than 3/4 of the country remains out of reach from humanitarian actors. Human rights groups and aid agencies remain for the most part unable to confirm any death toll since the crisis began, although most agree that well over 2 000 people have been killed.

A UN humanitarian mission did visit the Eastern region of the country last week. Although basic humanitarian needs are for the most part being met in the east, Bragg says aid agencies are concerned shortages of equipment and specialized medical staff, along with the possible disruption of supply lines to the region, could transform the situation into a much bigger humanitarian crisis in coming days and months.

Michelle Klein Sullivan, United Nations Observer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), says the number of people trying to leave Libya has decreased significantly in the past few days, but warned that the decrease was likely not a result of improving human rights situation on the ground

“It may be a reflection of the crackdown in the country, internal road blocks and border checks or more fear.” she said. 

Over 250 000 people, mainly migrant workers from Egypt and neighboring countries,  have already fled to the Tunisian and Egyptian borders since February 15th.

Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had a phone conversation with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa over the weekend, during which its was agreed a UN humanitarian assessment team would be granted unimpeded access into the Western region.

Ban’s spokesperson said the assessment team has already been assembled and was awaiting clearance from Libyan officials,  which Bragg said could come at some point some over the weekend. 

Earlier in the week, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon named a former Jordanian Foreign Minister, Abdul Ilah Khatib, as his special envoy to Libya. Khatib is to meet Ban at UN headquarters on Friday and is expected to begin urgent consultations with the regime in Tripoli. He may also travel to meet with Gaddafi government officials in the coming weeks.

UN, Aid Agencies Shut Out Of Western Libya

International relief organizations have little or no information on the conditions and humanitarian needs in large portions of Libya, and such information is proving extremely hard to come by, says UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affair Valerie Amos.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon yesterday, called on Libyan authorities to offer humanitarian organizations unimpeded access to the country, but so far virtually no organization has been able to travel to the Western regions. 

A United Nations assessment team reached the Eastern opposition stronghold of Benghazi yesterday, where it reported that security situation was calm and that most humanitarian needs in the areas surrounding the city had, for the moment at least, been met.

However the humanitarian situation in Tripoli is for the most part unknown. The United Nations presence in the capital, which was already limited before protests broke out two weeks ago, is now reduced to a few Libyan national staff members who are unable to carry out their work due to safety concerns. 

Ms Amos, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs who is scheduled visit the Tunisian border this weekend,  says that she has received reports that government security forces were preventing Libyans in Tripoli and other Western areas from fleeing.

The security situation along the Western border also remains uncertain . Although tens of thousands have crossed into Tunisia in the past two weeks, Amos says there are unconfirmed reports of a build up of heavily armed Libyan forces along certain border areas, preventing people from leaving.

“Our concern now is that the number leaving Libya dropped sharply yesterday” Amos told reporters.

Amos was able to confirm that as of yesterday, 172 00 people had already fled Libya, the large majority of them foreign laborers. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that there are approximately 1.5 million migrant workers in Libya, nearly a million of whom are Egyptian nationals, along with tens of thousands from Tunisia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Philippines and several countries from Sub-Saharan Africa. These migrant populations are often more likely to be victims of violence. Sub-Saharan Africans from Libya and neighboring countries are often accused of being  mercenaries hired by the regime to crush the protests and have been subject to violent retribution. Egyptian and Tunisian migrants have also reportedly faced attacks and threats from Gaddafi loyalists, who blame them for inciting the popular uprising.

Although a transit camp offering shelter, food and water has been set up on the Tunisian side of the border to accommodate the tens of thousands who have fled, foreign nationals from these countries often find themselves trapped in the region for extended periods of time.  Amos said IOM and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were working with partners to secure return flights and travel for those who have not yet been evacuated.