Libyan authorities agree to humanitarian presence of UN in Tripoli

PanARMENIAN.Net - Moammar Gadhafi's government has promised the U.N. access to the besieged rebel city of Misrata, a senior U.N. official said on April 18, following weeks of heavy shelling of the city by Libyan government forces.

Such access is part of an agreement, reached on April 17, to enable the U.N. to deliver humanitarian aid in western areas of Libya under Gadhafi's control. The U.N. has already set up an aid operation in rebel-run eastern Libya.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim confirmed that the deal with the U.N. includes setting up a humanitarian corridor to Misrata, a city of 300,000 and the sole rebel holdout in Gadhafi-controlled western Libya. "The agreement is to provide safe passage for people to leave Misrata, to provide aid, food and medicine," Ibrahim said.

The Libyan government has denied it has used heavy weapons against Misrata, where rebels are clinging to positions near the sea port, their only lifeline to the outside world.

However, residents and hospital officials in the city have described heavy shelling over the weekend, and said 17 people were killed Sunday. U.N. officials said children and elderly people have been among the casualties in recent days.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appealed to Libyan forces to hold their fire. "Considering the magnitude of this crisis, and as this fighting is still continuing, it is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop the fighting, stop killing people," he told a news conference in Budapest, Hungary.

Ban said the basic needs of tens of thousands of people in Libya are not being met. He said the U.N. will have a "humanitarian presence" in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, which is under Gadhafi's control. From Tripoli, the U.N. will try to expand operations with the help of the Red Cross and others, Ban said. He did not elaborate.

The U.N. has already set up an aid operation in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, AP reported.