UN to pull out of Tripoli, Libya

The UN says it will pull its staff out of Tripoli as violence continues, after a NATO air strike reportedly killed several members of Muammar Gaddafi's family.

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The United Nations says it's pulling its staff out of Tripoli as violence continues after a NATO air
strike apparently killed several members of Muammar Gaddafi's family.

"Given the unrest, UN staff are going to leave Tripoli," a UN spokeswoman, Eri Kaneko, told AFP on Sunday, alluding to the deteriorating security situation in the Libyan capital.

Protesters set fire on Sunday to the British and Italian embassies, which are on the same street in central Tripoli, hours after Gaddafi's second-youngest son and three of his grandchildren were reported killed in a NATO air strike.

Gaddafi had allowed the United Nations to maintain a humanitarian presence in the Libyan capital, and a limited number of international aid staff were on the ground in Tripoli.

The establishment of the UN humanitarian presence in Tripoli was agreed by emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos in a deal struck with the Libyan government on April 17.

The accord will "enable us to move around and see exactly what is happening for ourselves", Amos said at the time.

The UN also has staff deployed in the rebel bastion of Benghazi in eastern Libya and elsewhere as it seeks to stave off a humanitarian disaster with tens of thousands of Libyan refugees fleeing the conflict to neighbouring countries.



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Source: AFP

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