More than half the nearly 900,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance are women and children, he said, and more than 30 percent are migrants and refugees.
The impact of Libya’s nine-year war on civilians is “incalculable”, a UN official has said, with rising casualties and nearly 900,000 people now needing assistance.
Yacoub El Hillo said on Monday a 55-point road map for ending the war in Libya – agreed to by 12 key leaders at a conference in Berlin on January 19 – has seen “serious violations” in the last 10 days with fighting in and around the capital, Tripoli.
The protracted conflict is “severely impacting civilians in all parts of the country on a scale never seen before”, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya said in a video briefing to journalists from Tripoli.
El Hillo said “the increasing use of explosive weapons has resulted in unnecessary loss of life”, pointing to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, particularly health facilities, that have doubled since 2019, resulting in at least 650 civilians killed or wounded.
He cited a UN mine expert in Libya who said last week the country has the world’s largest uncontrolled ammunition stockpile, with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of uncontrolled munitions across the country.
Libya “is also the largest theatre for drone technology”, El Hillo said, stressing “everyone has something”.
El Hillo said that, at the end of 2019, more than 345,000 people had fled their homes and become displaced, including 150,000 in and around Tripoli, since Haftar’s offensive began last April.
“Unless we speak so bluntly and openly … unless we start naming and shaming, we will have the resolutions but the reality on the ground will remain appalling,” El Hillo said.
El Hillo said that, at the end of 2019, more than 345,000 people had fled their homes and become displaced, including 150,000 in and around Tripoli, since Haftar’s offensive began last April.