London, March 07: Top UN officials have called for urgent and unimpeded access to areas of Libya affected by violence, particularly the western part of the country.
“The Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon) is deeply concerned about the fighting in western Libya, which is claiming a large number of lives and threatens even more carnage in the days ahead,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement published by the UN’s information center on Sunday.
“He notes that civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence, and calls for an immediate halt to the government’s disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets,” the statement read.
Ban also called on the Libyan regime “to uphold their responsibility to protect the country’s citizens and to heed the Libyan people’s legitimate aspirations to live in dignity and peace.”
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it has received reports that the western city of Misrata remains under attack by forces loyal to the Libyan regime.
“Humanitarian organizations need urgent access now. People are injured and dying and need help immediately,” said the UN authority for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos, who added, “I call on the authorities to provide access without delay to allow aid workers to help save lives.”
Amos travelled yesterday to the Tunisia-Libya border to assess ongoing relief efforts for people fleeing Libya amid the recent violence.
Since Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi started the severe suppression of the country’s revolution several weeks ago, thousands of protesters, demanding his ouster, have lost their lives in the regime’s bloody crackdown.
——–Agencies