Editorials

Humanitarian crisis

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-14 07:25

Warplanes thundered. Bombs dropped. Blood was spilled.

As NATO launched its heaviest attack on Tripoli, Libya's capital, in weeks, more targets were shattered, including Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's residential compound.

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And though a NATO spokesman insisted that all the targets were Gadhafi's military installations, a hospital was reportedly pounded injuring children. Even the embassy building of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was reportedly damaged. Now foreign missions have reason to worry about their safety in the Libyan capital.

The humanitarian situation in Libya has worsened since the beginning of the crisis, which is not what the United Nations Security Council wanted when it passed Resolution 1973 about two months ago. Now even Valerie Amos, the UN aid chief, has called for a pause in the hostilities to ease the humanitarian crisis, saying the fighting has forced more than 746,000 Libyans to flee to neighboring countries as refugees and displaced about 65,000 others.

Innocent civilians are struggling with shortage of goods and fuel, and many have been killed. Figures from different sources show that about 1,400 migrants have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

This means the longer the conflict continues the worse the humanitarian crisis will be.

NATO intensified its air attack amid a stalemate between the government forces and NATO-backed rebels. While the rebels have made some progress militarily, Gadhafi appeared on TV for the first time since his youngest son and three of his grandchildren were killed in a NATO bombing, showing no sign of giving up the fight.

Increasing air strikes will only increase animosity between the government and the rebels and reduce the possibility of heading to the negotiating table, jeopardizing the efforts to restore peace.

Libya could become another Somalia unless all sides stop the conflict and prevent the country from descending into a prolonged civil war, former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa has warned. A protracted civil war is obviously against the interests of all Libyans and will destabilize the political situation in the Middle East further.

The UN resolution authorized "all necessary measures" with the aim of protecting civilians, meeting their basic needs and ensuring the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance. Unfortunately, since NATO started its "measures" more civilians have lost their lives and the humanitarian crisis has worsened.

This should be changed for the better.

(China Daily 05/14/2011 page5)