Tripoli, April 30: Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s regime has threatened to attack any cargo ship attempting to bring humanitarian assistance into the besieged port city of Misratah.
According to Libyan state TV, the Gaddafi regime insists that the humanitarian assistance should be sent via road and under the supervision of the Libyan army,
The Gaddafi regime warned that any ship “attempting to enter the port, for whatever reason, will be hit with force.”
The Libyan military has “put the port out of service” and delivery of humanitarian assistance to Misratah should be carried out “overland and under the supervision of the armed forces,” the Libyan state TV report said.
Since February, Libyan revolutionaries and Gaddafi forces have been fighting for control of the city of Misratah, which is a bastion of the anti-Gaddafi forces.
Tensions remain high in the country as forces loyal to the embattled ruler continue their efforts to suppress the popular uprising, even while more cities fall into the hands of the revolutionaries.
Gaddafi loyalists are struggling to prevent the revolutionaries from taking the battle to the capital Tripoli, where the Libyan ruler and his remaining allies are holed up.
—–Agencies