Aid agencies warn of humanitarian crisis in Libya

The latest rocket attack on Libya’s third largest city by government forces killed at least eight people, a local doctor told Al Jazeera television.

A rebel spokesman using the name Ghassan said that more than 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area of Misrata, including residential neighbourhoods.

“They shelled this area because the port is Misrata’s only window to the outside world,” he explained. “The destruction there was huge. I was there and saw for myself,” he said, adding that the port had been shut.

The rebels have warned of an impending massacre unless NATO intensifies its air strikes.

‘Medieval siege’

In a joint newspaper article, the U.S., British and French leaders said Misrata was “enduring a medieval siege as Gaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission”.

Migrants from Egypt, Niger, Bangladesh, Ghana, Sudan and Nigeria have been stranded in Misrata, living in the open for weeks with limited food and no clean water.

An International Organisation for Migration (IOM) ship has left Misrata with some 1,200 stranded migrants, many described as being in an “extremely poor state” after weeks with only a little food and water.

The charted Greek vessal Ionian Spirit managed to offload 400 tonnes of aid supplies in Misrata overnight despite the shelling the IOM said.

It left for Benghazi in the early hours of the morning. IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya told Reuters: “Men, women, children and elderly were on board, all dehydrated and weak. Many need medical attention.”

The IOM hoped that the ship would be able to leave Benghazi for Misrata in order to carry out a second evacuation, but after that it would run out of funding. Yet the total sum required, $5mn, is not huge, according to the Geneva-based agency.

“Unless funding materialises immediately for IOM evacuation operations, the organisation will not be able to rescue any more of the migrants from the fighting in Misrata,” it said.

A team from Amnesty International arrived yesterday on the IOM ship to document violations against human rights, particularly evidence of indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas and snipers within the city.

The United Nations (UN) has said that more than 100,000 people in Misrata want to be evacuated in total.

The Red Cross said it expected a humanitarian vessel with life-saving medical supplies to arrive in Misrata in the coming days, depending on the security situation around the port.

Concerted efforts

At a conference in Egypt the UN, secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said the humanitarian situation in Libya is deteriorating and required concerted efforts by the UN and the international community.

“Within Libya itself, the picture is especially grave,” Mr. Ban told a Cairo Conference on Libya on Thursday, which he co-convened with the League of Arab States.

He reported that in the cities of Misrata, Brega and Zintan, where the fighting has been particularly intense, access to basic services and basic commodities such as food, water and health care has been largely cut off.

It is estimated that nearly half a million people have left Libya since the conflict began earlier this year. Many people remain stranded at camps and transit points in neighbouring countries.

Mr. Ban said he intends to establish an international presence in the capital, Tripoli, as soon as possible, and that UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos may visit there.

“I have also called on all neighbouring countries to keep their borders open to receive those fleeing the conflict,” he said.

“We must be careful not to allow large concentrations of refugees awaiting evacuation to build up along the border, particularly given the fragility of the situation in the region.”