Libya a “hidden human calamity”

Increasing hostilities in the oil-rich city of Derna in Libya are becoming an increasing source of concern said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Maria Ribeiro, following an intensification in fighting which has resulted in “substantial civilian casualties”.

Since armed conflict erupted in Libya in 2011, during the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, some 200,000 people have been internally displaced.  In 2014, ISIS, or Da’esh, terrorist fighters took over Derna, leading to a succession of battles for control of the city, involving the Shura Council of Mujahideen, a coalition of pro-sharia law Islamist militants, the Libyan national army and local militias.

In addition to substantial civilian casualties, Ribeiro said that recent intense fighting has reportedly resulted in deteriorating infrastructures and services, leaving some civilians without basic food, water and urgent lifesaving medical care for families and the wounded.

Back in December, a trauma hospital in Benghazi, the country’s second-largest city, was hit and before that media reports said that Da’esh had claimed responsibility for attacking the Foreign Ministry in the capital, Tripoli. In November, fighting between armed militia damaged a Tripoli hospital for Women and Childbirth, resulting in a doctor being shot and a three-day halt to non-emergency medical services.

Meanwhile, migrants and refugees are being subjected to “unimaginable horrors” from the moment they enter Libya in what Ghassan Salamé, the head of the UN political mission there, told the Security Council last month was a “hidden human calamity”.

[UN]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.