London, February 28: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres says nearly 100,000 people have fled the violence in Libya over the past week.
Guterres said in a statement on Sunday that these include Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans, Chinese and other Asians, half of whom have sought refuge in Tunisia and the other half have gone to Egypt.
“We call upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to enable these governments to cope with this humanitarian emergency,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
The Geneva-based UNHCR has started dispatching relief supplies to Tunisia as well as Libyan borders.
The evacuation of foreign nationals has picked up speed since Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi threatened to arm his supporters in order to suppress the pro-democracy protesters.
In response to Gaddafi’s bloody repression of protesters, the UN Security Council on Saturday imposed sanctions on Gaddafi and members of his inner circle and referred the Libyan ruler to the International Criminal Court.
Protesters have now taken control of more cities in the west of the country and plan to march on the capital, Tripoli to make a last-ditch effort at toppling the Libyan dictator.
Two thousand people have been reportedly killed in the violence so far despite the regime’s denial that any kind of force has been used against the people.
——–Agencies