Gadhafi to allow UN free access to Misrata
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2011, Tuesday
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MOAMMAR Gadhafi's government has promised the United Nations access to the besieged rebel city of Misrata, a senior UN official said yesterday, as Libyan troops continued to attack Misrata with shells and rockets.
However, the Libyan authorities have not guaranteed a halt of hostilities during such a mission, said the UN's humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, who met with Libyan prime minister Mahmoud Jibril in Tripoli on Sunday.
Amos said she will try to send a team to the city of 300,000 as quickly as possible, adding that she's "deeply concerned" about the safety of civilians there.
The Libyan government denies it is using heavy weapons in Misrata, a rebel bridgehead in Gadhafi-controlled western Libya. However, Rida al-Montasser, a Misrata activist, said Gadhafi forces continued to fire rockets and tank shells at Misrata yesterday, as rebels battle them for control of the urban core.
Residents and hospital officials in the city have described heavy shelling over the weekend, and said 17 people were killed on Sunday. UN officials said children and elderly people have been among the casualties in recent days.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Libyan forces to hold their fire. "Considering the magnitude of this crisis, and as this fighting is still continuing, it is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop the fighting, stop killing people," he told a news conference in Budapest, Hungary.
Ban said the basic needs of tens of thousands of people in Libya are not being met.
The UN has already set up an aid operation in Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in the eastern part of Libya they control. As part of Sunday's agreement with the Gadhafi government, the UN will be allowed to set up a presence in Tripoli as well, Amos said, speaking in Benghazi.
She said in her meetings in Tripoli on Sunday, she pressed the government, "particularly in relation to Misrata, but also in other vulnerable towns and cities, and to seek their assurances that we could carry out an independent needs assessment of the situation in Misrata," she said. "I have been given those assurances."
However, she had received "no guarantees with respect to my call for an overall cessation of hostilities, to enable people to move, to enable us to deliver supplies."
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the deal with the UN includes setting up a humanitarian corridor to Misrata, including access for international aid agencies.
"The agreement is to provide safe passage for people to leave Misrata, to provide aid, food and medicine," Ibrahim said late on Sunday. He did not say whether this would include a halt in fighting.
However, the Libyan authorities have not guaranteed a halt of hostilities during such a mission, said the UN's humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, who met with Libyan prime minister Mahmoud Jibril in Tripoli on Sunday.
Amos said she will try to send a team to the city of 300,000 as quickly as possible, adding that she's "deeply concerned" about the safety of civilians there.
The Libyan government denies it is using heavy weapons in Misrata, a rebel bridgehead in Gadhafi-controlled western Libya. However, Rida al-Montasser, a Misrata activist, said Gadhafi forces continued to fire rockets and tank shells at Misrata yesterday, as rebels battle them for control of the urban core.
Residents and hospital officials in the city have described heavy shelling over the weekend, and said 17 people were killed on Sunday. UN officials said children and elderly people have been among the casualties in recent days.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Libyan forces to hold their fire. "Considering the magnitude of this crisis, and as this fighting is still continuing, it is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop the fighting, stop killing people," he told a news conference in Budapest, Hungary.
Ban said the basic needs of tens of thousands of people in Libya are not being met.
The UN has already set up an aid operation in Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in the eastern part of Libya they control. As part of Sunday's agreement with the Gadhafi government, the UN will be allowed to set up a presence in Tripoli as well, Amos said, speaking in Benghazi.
She said in her meetings in Tripoli on Sunday, she pressed the government, "particularly in relation to Misrata, but also in other vulnerable towns and cities, and to seek their assurances that we could carry out an independent needs assessment of the situation in Misrata," she said. "I have been given those assurances."
However, she had received "no guarantees with respect to my call for an overall cessation of hostilities, to enable people to move, to enable us to deliver supplies."
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the deal with the UN includes setting up a humanitarian corridor to Misrata, including access for international aid agencies.
"The agreement is to provide safe passage for people to leave Misrata, to provide aid, food and medicine," Ibrahim said late on Sunday. He did not say whether this would include a halt in fighting.
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