The UN appealed yesterday for a ceasefire in the Libyan city of Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces on rebel-held parts of the city.
Libya’s third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire from embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in his bid to put down an armed rebellion.
“Fifty days into the fighting in Misrata, the full picture of the toll on children is emerging — far worse than we had feared and certain to get worse unless there is a ceasefire,” said Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for the UN children’s fund UNICEF.
“We have at least 20 verified child deaths and many more injuries due to shrapnel from mortars and tanks and bullet wounds,” she told a news briefing in Geneva.
Aid groups say food, medicines and other basic items are in short supply in the city, and tens of thousands of casualties and foreign workers are waiting at the port to be evacuated. Nine weeks after the rebellion broke out, inspired by uprisings against autocratic rulers elsewhere in the Arab world, the city’s plight has highlighted the limitations of a NATO-led air campaign designed to keep Qaddafi’s forces out of the air and prevent attacks on civilians.
Many NATO members refuse to go beyond enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone to attack Qaddafi’s forces, despite the urging of the US, France and Britain, who all want to see Qaddafi removed from power.
And some of those who allowed a UN Security Council resolution on Libya to pass say that it is being misused to provide military cover for the rebels — even though fighting now appears to have stalemated on a frontline just west of Ajdabiyah in eastern Libya.
NATO said multiple air strikes on Monday night had targeted Qaddafi’s communications infrastructure and the headquarters of his 32nd brigade, 10km south of Tripoli.
Libyan television said Tripoli and the towns of Sirte and al-Aziziyah had been bombed.
At Ajdabiyah’s western gate, rebels peered into the desert through binoculars yesterday morning at what they said were Qaddafi’s forces 30km away.
Some said that NATO had advised them not to attack so they would not be hit accidentally by air strikes.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western air support was allowing the Libyan opposition to refuse to sit down to negotiate.
“The UN Security Council never aimed to topple the Libyan regime,” he said in Belgrade. “All those who are currently using the UN resolution for that aim are violating the UN mandate. It is crucial to establish a ceasefire.”
Even the advocates of more robust attacks on Qaddafi’s forces have insisted they will not deploy ground troops.
However, the EU outlined a tentative plan on Monday to do just that to protect aid deliveries to Misrata and elsewhere if the UN requests.
Any EU mission could involve hundreds of military personnel securing transport of supplies directly to Libya, in particular Misrata, and helping to supply food and shelter to refugee camps on the Tunisian and Egyptian borders.
The UN World Food Programme said it had secured Libyan consent to bring food to western towns affected by the fighting.
Eight trucks entered from Tunisia carrying 240 tonnes of food — enough to feed nearly 50,000 people for 30 days — to towns in the west including Zawiyah, Zintan and Nalut that are mostly under Qaddafi’s control after uprisings there were crushed by force.
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