By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 27 May 2015:
Benghazi residents need a safe passage out of conflict zones, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is . . .[restrict]claiming.
On 17 April and 21 May HRW interviewed residents living in downtown Benghazi who said that they felt trapped. They told HRW that “militants controlling these areas were not allowing civilians to leave and conditions were increasingly dire” due to food shortages, power cuts and lack of access to medical care.
Affected areas include Al-Bilad, Sidi Khreibish and Sabri.
“It is vitally important for the Libyan Army and militias in Benghazi to allow civilians safe passage and to facilitate safe passage and to facilitate access to take badly-needed aid to the people inside,” said HRW Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson.
Residents, including children, have fallen victim of to shelling in the past few weeks. At times those injured have not been allowed out of the area to get medical treatment, unless they can leave on foot.
According to HRW both the Libyan National Army and Benghazi Crisis Committee head Zakaria Beltamer told the human rights organisation that all residents who wanted to evacuate have been given the opportunity to do so. This contradicts, said HRW, reports from Benghazi locals and from Red Crescent volunteers. The Red Crescent had registered 58 people by phone who wished to evacuate militia-controlled areas but had not been able to do so, because of fear of attack or reprisal.
HRW reminded all parties that under international humanitarian law “all forces engaged in armed conflict must allow civilians to safely evacuate from areas affected by fighting and give civilians effective advanced warning of attacks that put them at risk”.
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