NATO Strike Kills 12 Libyan Rebels in Misurata
Published: April 27, 2011
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They were a forlorn sight, crowds of exhausted men between a smoldering container and a ferry with a jittery crew. They formed into long queues, hundreds of men, many with nothing more than a blanket and single piece of luggage.
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They spoke of their weeks waiting to be evacuated from the country where they had come for work only to be stranded by war. Adel Ibrahim Moussa eyed the ship. “I will go home now, God willing,” he said.
When the war began more than 10,000 migrant workers were stranded in Misurata, and were unable to flee overland as pro-Qaddafi forces tightened their grip on the roads in and out of the city, and fighting began. Many have been living in camps since February, exposed to the elements and occasional violence.
One rocket struck one of the camps on Monday, the laborers and medical workers said, killing one man and wounding several others. And as they prepared to leave, fresh barrages landed in a neighborhood nearby.
The weeks of shelling in Misurata have continued even as the pro-Qaddafi forces have pulled back and been driven by the rebels from much of the city’s limits. The rebels now control most of Misurata, but lack heavy weapons and as yet have not taken control of the airport.
Fighting continued in the afternoon at the end of Tripoli Street, where an apparent hold-out of loyalist troops exchanged gunfire with rebels. The Qaddafi forces also still held the approaches to the city, and positions beyond the range of the rebels’ weapons from where they can strike the city with artillery and ground-to-ground rocket fire.
More than 1,000 residents of the city, and an untold number of pro-Qaddafi soldiers, have been killed in the siege, medical official say. And the humanitarian costs continue to climb, as electricity is rationed, many medicines are in short supply, schools and businesses remain closed and the rockets and artillery round continue to fall.
Speaking on Wednesday in New York, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, decried the Qaddafi forces’ continued campaign.
“Clearly, the Security Council’s decisive and unified action has saved many lives.,” he said, “It is also clear that the Libyan regime has lost both legitimacy and credibility, particularly in terms of protecting its people and addressing their legitimate aspirations for change.”
He added, as Misurata continued to depend on the vessels from the sea for supplies, that “the humanitarian situation is growing increasingly urgent.”
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