UN focuses on crisis in Misrata

Britain to discuss plans to ensure unfettered access for relief effort to besieged city after seven weeks of fighting Britain will press for unfettered access to the besieged Libyan city of Misrata in talks at the UN amid deepening concern at the humanitarian situation in the town, which has been surrounded by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for more than a month. The international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, will discuss plans on Monday to increase aid and medical supplies and ensure better access to the rebel-held city. Misrata has been under heavy attack for seven weeks, with hundreds of civilians killed in the effort to rout the rebels, who are reportedly better organised and disciplined than in the east of the country. Seventeen people were killed in fighting in Misrata on Sunday, an NGO worker and an opposition activist said. Government troops, who have pushed into the city centre in recent days, pounded Misrata with mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, a resident told Associated Press. “Residents have become so accustomed to the sound of mortars and missiles. Snipers are still on the roofs of tall buildings shooting at anything that moves in the city centre,” he said. Rebels fought government forces back from an area around a central produce market, regaining a sliver of territory, said Rida al-Montasser, a local activist. He said a hospital report showed 17 people, including rebels, were killed and 74 others were wounded. A worker for a foreign NGO who visited the hospital on Sunday also said 17 bodies were brought in, including that of a girl shot in the head. Other children who had been shot were among the wounded, he said. Witnesses in the city have backed up reports from Human Rights Watch that Gaddafi’s troops have been using cluster bombs as part of their offensive. The Libyan government has denied this. Britain has sent aid to the affected areas as well as emergency shelters, medical supplies, food and enough midwifery kits to deliver 200 babies, but Mitchell wants better access to Misrata for the relief effort. “The humanitarian situation in Misrata is of great concern,” he said. “The international community should be ready to respond, and that is why I will be meeting with the United Nations to ensure we have the right support in place. “It is vital that we continue to get help, such as food, water or medical supplies, through to people. Humanitarian agencies must be given free and unfettered access to Misrata and other areas affected by fighting.” Tens of thousands of people are trapped in Misrata and other towns after more than a month of fighting, which has killed at least 300 and injured more than 1,000, including many children. Some severely injured people are unable to be evacuated for medical attention, hospitals lack electricity and water, and people have been trapped indoors for weeks with little or no food. The UN is concerned that consumption of untreated water from wells could lead to outbreaks of water-borne diseases. Talks on Misrata come as David Cameron said there was “no question” of an international invasion of Libya. The prime minister said the Nato-led air strikes on military targets had helped prevent massacres and the taking of Misrata. But while rebel forces were receiving help, including body armour and communications equipment, there was no question of going beyond the UN mandate. “It is because we have said we are not going to invade, we are not going to occupy [that] this is more difficult in many ways because we can’t fully determine the outcome with what we have available,” Cameron said on Sky News. “But we are very clear that we must stick to the terms of the UN security council resolution, we must keep the support of the Arab world.” In eastern Libya on Sunday Gaddafi’s forces mounted a heavy assault on Libyan rebels holding the key town of Ajdabiya in a sign that the regime is intensifying efforts to regain territory in the east of the country. Explosions were heard for several hours in the morning, forcing some of the few remaining families to flee to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi 90 miles away. In Paris, the French defence minister, Gérard Longuet, has dismissed statements from a senior Nato official that the alliance is short of aircraft. Longuet said instead the mission has been hampered by a lack of ground information. “There is no lack of planes but a lack of identification of mobile objectives,” he said in an interview published on Sunday in the daily Le Parisien. “The problem is that we’re missing concrete and verifiable information on identified objectives on the ground.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East United Nations Mark Tran guardian.co.uk

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