UN refugee agency calls for safe passage for civilians as Libyan violence escalates

UN refugee agency calls for safe passage for civilians as Libyan violence escalates

2011-03-16 01:03:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday requested a safe passage for people needing to flee combat areas in conflict-ridden Libya, as the number of refugees nears 300,000.

"We appeal again to all parties to ensure safe passage for all civilians fleeing violence," UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a press briefing in Geneva.

"Typically, we would expect to see significant numbers of injured people and women and children in a mass displacement of this nature, but so far our staff at the borders with Egypt and Tunisia have seen very few," she added.

Sub-Saharan nationals living in Libya's eastern and western parts have been trapped by the fighting and have appealed for help to leave the country. To date 280,614 people have fled the violence, including over 150,000 to Tunisia and another 118,000 people have fled to Egypt.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Rashid Khalikov, arrived in Tripoli over the weekend and met with Government representatives to discuss humanitarian matters arising from the fighting between forces loyal to Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi and opponents seeking his ouster.

"I cannot say that I can boast about too much accomplishment," he told UN Radio in an interview.

"We wanted direct access to various parts of Libya. We wanted also to assess the humanitarian needs of the population that was affected by recent developments and it should cover both east and west of the country as well as the ability of international organizations to deliver on their mandate," he said.

Khalikov added that it was difficult to estimate at this point how many people need humanitarian aid.

Currently, some 3,500 people are stranded at the Egyptian border, the majority Bangladeshis, but the number of flights from Egypt to Bangladesh has now increased and yesterday nearly 900 Bangladeshis left. In Tunisia over 16,000 people at the border camp are awaiting onwards transportation or other solutions. On average some 3,000 people have arrived per day since Friday.

The North African nation has been plunged into chaos as massive anti-government protests continue nationwide, resulting in a violent crackdown by security forces which included aerial bombardments on protesters. At least 1,000 and as many as 10,000 people are believed to have been killed in the uprising, but confirmed information has been difficult to obtain due to reporting restrictions by Libyan authorities.

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