UN warns of humanitarian crisis in Libya
November 15, 2014, 7:50 pm

Smoke rises from areas near the airport where clashes between militias eventually led to Tripoli’s fall to Islamist forces [Xinhua]

The warning came even as car bombs and suicide attacks continued in the capital Tripoli.

On Thursday, a number of car bombs exploded outside the diplomatic missions of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. No casualties were reported as the two embassies had been closed for some time.

Earlier in the week, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near the empty parliament building, killing at least six and injuring dozens.

The violence in Libya has been steadily worsening since a rebellion removed the government of Muammar Qaddafi.

Over the course of the past two years, Islamist forces once allied with dissident forces have moved to seize control of key Libyan cities, managing to capture the capital after fierce fighting in August.

They have repeatedly accused Egypt and the UAE of supporting non-Islamist government forces.

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Friday that the fighting had forced up to 100,000 people to leave their homes. Some 55,000 residents from the western city of Benghazi were now considered internally displaced persons, the UNHCR said.

“In all, we estimate that more than 393,420 people have become internally displaced in Libya since violence escalated in May. They are scattered across 35 towns and cities and are in dire need of shelter, health care, food, water and other basic commodities,” UN spokesperson Adrian Edwards told the media.

According the UN News Centre, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in Geneva is particularly disturbed by “reports of increased human rights abuses, beheadings of activists and the recent closure of Libya’s national human rights institution in Tripoli”.

A press briefing in Geneva said:

The dramatic increase in use of car bombs in the last few days, with civilians the main victims, illustrates the rapidly deteriorating security and human rights situation in the country. Over the last week alone, there were two explosions in Shahhat, three each in Tobruk, al-Baida and Benghazi, and two in Tripoli, causing several deaths and injuries.

The UN Security Council has condemned the latest violence in Libya and reiterated an earlier demand that all armed groups lay down their arms and follow a political process.

Source: Agencies