500,000 children face ‘immediate danger’ in Libya capital: UN

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TRIPOLI, Sept 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Half a million children are in
“immediate danger” in Libya’s capital Tripoli due to fighting, the United
Nations children’s fund UNICEF said on Monday.

Clashes that broke out between rival militias in late August had killed at
least 115 people and wounded nearly 400 by Saturday night, according to
Libya’s health ministry.

UNICEF said Monday that “over 1,200 families have been displaced in the
past 48 hours alone as clashes intensified in southern Tripoli”.

That brings the total number of people displaced by the recent fighting to
over 25,000, half of whom are children, UNICEF said.

“More children are reportedly being recruited to fight, putting them in
immediate danger. At least one child was killed as a result,” said Geert
Cappelaere, the UN agency’s Middle East and North Africa director.

UNICEF also said schools are increasingly being used to shelter displaced
families, which is likely to delay the start of the academic year beyond
October 3.

It said residents are facing food, power and water shortages, adding that
the clashes have exacerbated the plight of migrants.

“Hundreds of detained refugees and migrants, including children, were
forced to move because of violence. Others are stranded in centres in dire
conditions”, Cappelaere said.

Despite a UN-brokered ceasefire on September 4, fighting broke out again
last week in southern districts of the capital.

The clashes have pitted armed groups from Tarhuna and Misrata against
Tripoli militias nominally controlled by Libya’s UN-backed unity government.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between
armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted in a NATO-backed 2011
uprising.

The country’s unity government has struggled to exert its control in the
face of a multitude of militias and a rival administration based in eastern
Libya.