WHO: situation in Libya "precarious"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two weeks into Libya's revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, aid organizations are bracing for a massive humanitarian crisis that could displace nearly three million people and result in critical shortages of food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

While hundreds of thousands of people, mainly foreigners, have already fled Libya, concerns are growing that a protracted standoff between pro-and anti-Gaddafi forces could produce a regionwide disaster.

"We may be facing a historic human tragedy," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), said as she toured a border crossing between Tunisia and Libya that has been swamped with 15,000 refugees a day. Other UN agencies and international groups say Libya may already be on the brink of a catastrophe.

The World Health Organization says the health situation inside the country is "precarious;" aid agencies warn its food supply chain is "at risk of collapsing;" and Britain's Save the Children Fund says up to one million children trapped in the capital Tripoli and western Libya are in danger of becoming war victims.

Things could get worse if Col. Gaddafi's troops try to cut off food to opposition-held cities and towns. They have already attempted to bomb some of the huge pipelines that carry water to Libya's main cities from aquifers buried deep beneath the Sahara Desert, hundreds of kilometres south of the populated Mediterranean coast.

Aid workers believe up to 2.7 million people could flee Libya in the coming weeks, National Post reported.