[ 2011-04-18 ]

Thousands of migrant workers and their families, as well as Libyans, are fleeing Misrata

UK to help migrants flee Misrata
The UK is to fund the evacuation of 5,000 migrants
trapped by fighting in western Libya, the UK's
international development secretary has said.

Andrew Mitchell said that Britain would charter
ships to get people out of the rebel-held town of
Misrata, which has seen more than five weeks of
fighting.

The minister is attending a UN meeting in New York
to discuss the humanitarian situation in Libya.

Aid workers and Misrata residents have said the
situation there is "dire".

They have reported shortages of food, power, water
and medicine, as forces loyal to Libyan leader Col
Muammar Gaddafi intensify their shelling of the
city.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, reporting from the United
Nations, said some of the most desperate civilians
were thousands of migrant workers from the Middle
East, Africa and South Asia.

Mr Mitchell said Britain would help fund their
evacuation in ships chartered by the International
Organization for Migration.

Further funds will go towards the International
Medical Corps (IMC) to provide medical aid for
those caught up in violence across western Libya,
he added.

Hundreds killed

He told the BBC Britain would continue to do
everything it could to press for access to people
in need, and would try to ensure the international
community lined up behind UN efforts to help
Libyan civilians trapped by the fighting.

"We've been quite effective at coping with the
problems on the borders but inside Libya because
of the actions of the Gaddafi regime the situation
has deteriorated most markedly in Misrata," he
told the BBC's World Today.

"It is extremely important that the international
community provides the necessary humanitarian
support to help with that."

He added that it was "appalling" that Libya had
not given humanitarian workers access to the
country.

"We call once again today for unfettered access
for those who are leading the urgent effort to
ensure that humanitarian support can be delivered
to people who are in desperate need," he said.

The UN Deputy Secretary General, Baroness Amos,
who is visiting Libya, said thousands of people in
Misrata were waiting to be evacuated, and
thousands more were in desperate need of medical
attention, sanitation, clean water and
electricity.

She has been speaking to the Libyan government in
the capital, Tripoli, to ask for hostilities to
cease to let people leave and allow urgent medical
supplies in, but told the BBC she did not get a
"positive response".

Shot baby

The International Organization for Migration has
already evacuated two boat-loads of migrants from
Misrata.

Jemini Pandya, from the organisation, said those
on board were weak and dehydrated, with some close
to death.

Libyan war casualties, including a baby who had
been shot in the face, were also given space on
the boat bound for Benghazi, she said.

She estimated at least 4,000 migrants, whom she
described as "the overlooked in the humanitarian
crisis" remained in the port area.

In the meantime, the IMC will send five-person
volunteer surgical and trauma teams to medical
facilities, together with medical supplies
including antibiotics, bandages, first aid kits
and surgical equipment.

It will also provide emergency evacuations for the
most severely sick and injured to Benghazi and
other facilities outside Libya, according to a
Department for International Development
statement.

On Sunday, six civilians were reported to have
died and more have been injured in a barrage of
rocket fire. Pro-government fighters are also said
to have shelled Ajdabiya in the east.

Also on Sunday, the UK's Department for
International Development said about 300 civilians
had been killed and a further 1,000 injured in
Misrata since late February.

Source - BBC

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