UN chief: Over 335,600 people have fled Libya
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Xinhua, March 25, 2011
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said that at least "335,658 people have fled Libya since the beginning of the crisis" in late February in the North African country.
The secretary-general made the statement as he was briefing the UN Security Council in an open meeting on the current situation in Libya.
"More than 335,658 people have fled Libya since the beginning of the crisis," Ban said. "Some 9,000 remain stranding along Libya 's borders with Tunisia and Egypt."
As of March 21, the International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency, known as the UNHCR, had provided evacuation assistance for more than 60,000 people leaving Libya, Ban said.
"The Regional Flash Appeal for the Libyan Crisis, which requested 160.3 million (U.S.) dollars, is 63 percent funded," he said.
"There are also contingency plans to deal with possible new waves of migrants and refugees totally as many as 200,000-250,000 people," he added.
"Meanwhile, the World Food Program has received reports that food prices in Libya are rising sharply -- with the price of flour, for example, doubling in recent weeks," Ban said.
Ban's special envoy, former Jordanian foreign minister Abdelilah Al-Khatib, visited the Libyan capital Tripoli on March 13, accompanied by the UN humanitarian coordinator based in Libya.
"The UN humanitarian coordinator and his team had only limited access," Ban said. "We have serious concerns, however, about the protection of civilians, abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and the access of civilian populations to basic commodities and services in areas currently under siege."
"The UN and the Libyan authorities continue to be far apart in their perspective analyses of the scope and scale of the humanitarian situation," he said. "No agreement has been reached on how an inter-agency needs-assessment mission would be carried out."
"I would like to remind all parties currently engaged in hostilities in Libya of their obligations under international humanitarian law to allow and facilitate the safe, rapid and unimpeded access by humanitarian organizations to populations in need," he added.
