THE UNITED Nations has signed an agreement with Libya for a “humanitarian presence” in the country but it is still unclear how this will help the besieged western city of Misurata, the focus of mounting international concern.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon repeated demands yesterday for an immediate ceasefire and the need to boost assistance to Misurata. “The Libyan government said that it would ensure unimpeded access through the Tunisian border into Libya up to Tripoli and said it would ensure safe passage for humanitarian workers to enter areas where the government of Libya is in control,” Mr Ban said during a visit to Budapest.
But officials in New York made clear that the EU – which has drawn up plans to deploy military forces on the ground in Libya to assist the humanitarian effort – would only be asked to help “as a last resort”. Nato, enforcing the UN no-fly zone and attacking Gadafy regime military targets, repeated that it would not get directly involved in supplying aid.
Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy referred last week in a joint newspaper article to Misurata “enduring a medieval siege”. Misurata has been under attack for seven weeks, with an estimated 300 civilians killed and thousands injured.
Valerie Amos, the UN’s under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said in Benghazi she had received assurances from the Libyan government that the UN would be allowed in, though it had given no guarantees about a cessation of hostilities. “What I would like to do is get access to Misurata, not just from the sea but also from the road,” she said. “We have very little sense of what is going on across the city.”
Musa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said in Tripoli the agreement with the UN was to provide “safe passage for people to leave Misurata, to provide aid, food and medicine”.
Britain’s international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, announced help for the International Organisation for Migration and the International Medical Corps to evacuate 5,000 foreign nationals from Misurata and deliver basic medical supplies to it and other western Libyan towns under Col Gadafy’s control.
The UK foreign office insisted there were no current plans to ask the EU or Nato to get involved. “Prudent contingency planning so that Nato or the EU could provide military support to humanitarian assistance if it was judged necessary has been taking place in both organisations,” a spokesman said. “No such request has been made, nor has any decision been taken by the UK on the merits or otherwise of any particular option.”
Farhan Haq, the UN spokesman, said: “We would only ask for military help if all civilian efforts had been exhausted.”
Officials in Brussels said the EU had drawn up a "concept of operations" for the deployment of military forces, but needed UN approval for what would be its riskiest mission. – ( Guardianservice)