UN ramping up aid efforts amid deepening Libyan crisis

According to the Libya country team of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 331,000 people are in need of assistance, including an estimated 287,000 people who are internally displaced within and around the capital, Tripoli, as well as Benghazi.

In addition, another 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries amid the continuing violence between rival armed factions in the country.

In a press statement released on Wednesday , OCHA said the main humanitarian priorities outlined in its new appeal are health and food assistance, provision of non-food items and hygiene kits, and mine action activities which would target the internally displaced, migrants, refugees, other vulnerable groups and affected host communities.

“Whilst the conflict has obliged the vast majority of the international community present in Libya, including the United Nations, to temporarily withdraw from the country, access is being sought through national and international partners who have presence in the country and through UN agency national staff,” the statement said.

It added that humanitarian needs assessments were ongoing “in order to take into account the fluid security situation in the country and identify and target the most vulnerable affected populations and guide the humanitarian response.”

Civilian casualties, injuries and large-scale displacement continue to increase in Libya as a result of recent clashes in Tripoli and several other areas of the country.

The North African nation has been embroiled in some of the worst fighting since the 2011 uprising that ousted former leader Muammar al-Qadhafi and set the country on a transition to democracy.

Shoppers at a market in the Libyan capital Tripoli. Photo: UNSMIL/Abbas Toumi