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Resilience of Libya’s people ‘astonishing’ despite seven years of severe conflict: top UN aid official

Resilience of Libya’s people ‘astonishing’ despite seven years of severe conflict: top UN aid official

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In Libya’s capital city of Tripoli, the humanitarian crisis is so intense, pregnant women are being asked to bring their own medical supplies for doctors to deliver their babies, and in some camps for the displaced, every toilet and kitchen in the city is being shared by up to 100 people.

Those are some of the stark scenes witnessed over the past few days by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ursula Mueller, who’s just completed a five-day visit to the country.

At one internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, she saw babies sharing incubators and spoke with doctors who had not been paid for months.

More than 800,000 people in Libya need humanitarian assistance; half are refugees and asylum seekers, with many held in detention centers so harrowing, that “they lose their dignity,” Ms. Mueller told Ben Malor of UN News.

Audio Credit
Ben Malor
Audio Duration
8'55"
Photo Credit
OCHA/Eve Sabbagh