International Red Cross urges access to western Libya

GENEVA: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday called for immediate and safe access to western Libya, warning of vital needs after the area was shut off by two weeks of violence.

Most of the remaining pro-Qadhafi strongholds including the capital, Tripoli, are in the west of the North African country, although more areas are falling to the opposition.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling for immediate and safe access to western Libya following two weeks of unrest in the country," the agency said in a statement.

"It's high time, and absolutely vital, that the needs of people affected are met," the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Yves Daccord said.

Protest leaders in Libya established a transitional "national council" in several eastern and western cities on Sunday and called on the army to help them take Tripoli.

ICRC teams entered the eastern side of the country including the country's second city Benghazi over the weekend, and are now supporting local doctors with medical care. Two thousand people were wounded there, according to the Geneva-based agency.

A similar ICRC team including surgeons and supplies was waiting on the western border in Tunisia.

"Right now, the situation is far too unstable and insecure to enable much-needed help to enter western parts of the country," Daccord explained.

"Health and aid workers must be allowed to do their jobs safely. Patients must not be attacked, and ambulances and hospitals must not be misused. It's a matter of life and death," he added.

Aid agencies were largely dealing with a relentless flood of more than 100,000 mainly foreign migrants who have fled the country to Egypt and Tunisia.