UN wants truce as 20 children killed in Misrata

The United Nations appealed on Tuesday for a cease-fire in the Libyan city of Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces on rebel-held parts of the city. Libya's third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire from Muammar Qadhafi's forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in the Libyan leader's bid to put down an armed rebellion.
But at the same time Western powers are looking for ways to support the rebels in their efforts to topple Qadhafi. Italy said the international Libya Contact Group was seeking ways to allow the rebels to sell oil produced in the rebel-held east despite a UN embargo on Libyan oil sales.
Nine weeks after the rebellion broke out, inspired by uprisings against autocratic rulers elsewhere in the Arab world, a Nato-led air campaign designed to keep Qadhafi's forces out of the air and prevent attacks on civilians has failed to halt the bombardment of Misrata, a city of 300,000 people.
"Fifty days into the fighting in Misrata, the full picture of the toll on children is emerging - far worse than we had feared and certain to get worse unless there is a cease-fire," said Marixie Mercado of the UN children's fund UNICEF. "We have at least 20 verified child deaths and many more injuries due to shrapnel from mortars and tanks and bullet wounds," she told a news briefing in Geneva.
Aid groups say food, medicines and other basic items are in short supply in the city, and tens of thousands of casualties and foreign workers are waiting at the port to be evacuated. Many Nato members refuse to go beyond enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone to attack Qadhafi's forces, despite the urging of the United States, France and Britain.
Nato said multiple air strikes on Monday night had targeted Qadhafi's communications infrastructure and the headquarters of his 32nd brigade, 10 km (six miles) south of Tripoli. Libyan television said Tripoli and the towns of Sirte and al-Aziziyah had been bombed.
At Ajdabiyah's western gate, rebels peered into the desert through binoculars on Tuesday morning at what they said were Qadhafi's forces 30 km (20 miles) away. Some said that Nato had advised them not to attack so they would not be hit accidentally by air strikes.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western air support was allowing the Libyan opposition to refuse to sit down to negotiate. "The UN Security Council never aimed to topple the Libyan regime," he said in Belgrade. "All those who are currently using the UN resolution for that aim are violating the UN mandate. It is crucial to establish a cease-fire."
France said President Nicolas Sarkozy would meet the head of Libya's rebel opposition, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, in Paris on Wednesday, but its foreign minister, Alain Juppe, said that France, like Britain, remained opposed to sending ground troops. However, the European Union outlined a tentative plan on Monday to do just that, albeit with a non-combat mandate, to protect aid deliveries to Misrata and elsewhere if requested by the United Nations.
Any EU mission could involve military personnel securing the transport of supplies to Libya, in particular Misrata. The UN World Food Programme said it had obtained Libyan consent to bring food to western towns affected by the fighting. Eight trucks entered from Tunisia carrying 240 tonnes of food - enough to feed 50,000 people for 30 days - to towns in the west including Zawiyah, Zintan and Nalut that are mostly under Qadhafi's control after uprisings were crushed by force.